Creating Pathways to K-12 Success: A Principal’s Perspective with Sharonda Willingham

Full Transcript

Dr. Emma Zone (00:31):

Hello and welcome, listeners, to the last episode of the season. We are so excited to have you here and we’re so happy you have joined this wonderful podcast for this exciting ride. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to end our season than to have a guest who can speak to us about student identity. In this episode, we’ll be exploring this topic in more detail and share some actionable steps from a seasoned teacher turn principle on how educators can reach more students. I am really pleased to welcome my guest today, Sharonda Willingham, the principal of the Interagency Academy, part of Seattle Public Schools. So glad to have you here. Welcome, Sharonda.

Sharonda Willingham (01:29):

Hi, good afternoon. How are you?

Dr. Emma Zone (01:31):

Doing well. I’m so thrilled to have you. I want to rewind a bit for our listeners. I had the pleasure of hearing you speak at our OLC Innovate K12 Symposium panel. I was just there as an audience member and you were a panelist, and as I was listening to you, I just knew that we had to have you on the show. And so, for our listeners, I found Sharonda in the hallway and I introduced myself and said, “Do you want to be on our podcast? You have such an important story and message to share.” And so that’s how we ended up where we are.

During that panel, you spoke a lot about student identity, leadership identity, who students are holistically, what that means for them in terms of their learning experiences, and you really talked about it, whether that’s fully online, in-person, hybrid model, and you talked a lot also about disenfranchised students and students who maybe are looking for that educational home and how we can create those better connections and pathways for them. So, thank you so much. A lot of what you resonated that day really kind of stood out to me, and I’m so happy to have you as a guest on the podcast this afternoon.

Sharonda Willingham (02:45):

Thank you so much for having me. It is my pleasure to be here. Yes, I was in the hall checking emails and you came up to me and I’m like, “Okay, sure.” So, I’m glad to be here this afternoon to share what I’ve learned in my leadership journey so far.

Dr. Emma Zone (03:02):

I love that. I love that. Thanks for agreeing. Well, with that context, let’s dive right in because you have a lot of great information to share with us. And I know our listeners are going to love hearing more about your story and about students and what’s meaningful for you. So, I’d love to start with your background because as I understand it and chatting with you a bit, you grew up in the rural South and began your teaching career in Baltimore, I believe. Can you walk us through a little bit what those experiences were like?

Sharonda Willingham (03:30):

Sure. I have to start with my elementary school principal. His name is Mr. Joe Siebels, and he is the reason why I am a principal. And so the fortunate fact of my parents growing up in the rural south, your parents’ classmates happened to be your principal, and so he just adored me as one of his students out of his school. And he would let me go in and read the announcements in the morning and tell the students what’s for lunch, and I would go and get helpers and say, “Hey, can you help me with the lunch announcement today?” And so I just enjoyed being in the office and I wanted to be a principal because of that experience. So I’m an educator because of him and he knows that. And it’s very important that of course, that we love when children when they’re in that environment because you don’t know what you are giving to them that later they want to become just like you, and we need educators in the world.

So he’s the reason why I am sitting in this seat, and that’s a very special story that I love to share with people because he made that impact on me as a young person. And so, growing up, I wanted to become a principal because of him. So, I became a teacher. I attended the University of South Carolina upstate and did my social studies undergrad there. And after I graduated, I wanted to leave South Carolina. And so growing up in the rural context, I wanted to go into a city life. And so, I moved to Baltimore Maryland. And boy, was that a transition for me to go from the rural south to Baltimore Maryland, but it really intrigued me to get outside of what I grew up around and just to see the world.

So, I got to see the world from the urban education lens and learned a lot. Baltimore City Public Schools is a great school system. What is so unique about Baltimore City public schools is that you can go to Brown University from that school system or you could end up in a low paying job. And so, it’s a very diverse way that students can go out into the world. And so, you see that inequity starting to happen in that context. I did my teaching there for eight years and then I was like, okay, let’s try something else. Let’s think about the West Coast. Again, wanted a different experience. And so I moved to Seattle, Washington and started my first leadership position outside of the classroom as a dean of students. And that was really fun because it was at a middle school.

So again, a different context. I only did high school, and so I was able to be in a middle school and see how middle school students grow into teenagers and watch that development from a dean of students and behavioral standpoint. And then after that, I was fortunate enough to become assistant principal at the current school that I am now, and I transitioned to principal here. And so, it’s called Interagency Academy. We are a group of small alternative schools with seven campuses throughout the city and each campus has a different specialty to them. We have a recovery academy, which is the only recovery school in the state of Washington. We also serve our incarcerated youth through our program, and we also serve students through our online program in which I was able to be a speaker for the OLC online panel for K12 educators.

That was a fantastic conference and panel to be a part of because we’re really learning about AI in the context of education, something that I spoke on, but really how do we grow the pipeline? I would say between K12 and our post-secondary institution, I see that as a great opportunity to explore so that our students can also see themselves in post-secondary programs and be able to feel confident in their ability to manage that because they had some context of that in their high school experience. So that’s a little bit about my educational journey and how I’m here now.

Dr. Emma Zone (08:17):

Yeah, I love that. And you talk about those different contexts, rural South, the urban context in Baltimore, moving then to the West Coast, and what an interesting lens, not only as you’re working with these different student populations, but also for you personally as an educator and as a leader. So, it sounds like what prompted the move is just maybe trying a new area, but I’d love to hear more about what were some of the differences you saw across those different contexts, as you reflect back and you’re thinking about what you see today in Seattle, maybe compared to Baltimore and even still, what might be some of the similarities as well?

Sharonda Willingham (09:03):

So, I would say the biggest difference for me was the economic and political context in which schools sit in. So Seattle Public Schools is nested into Seattle, the city of Seattle, which economically they are vibrant. You can find jobs, you have tax dollars coming into the school system. And so just being around resources, the crime rates are lower, poverty is lower. Not to say that we don’t have those things, but it is lower. So, coming from Baltimore City where everything is the inverse, it’s high crime, high poverty, you see the ability or the inability of the school system to be able to serve students. So, for me, that was the biggest thing. Like school systems, they do amazing work, but it’s a community of resources around that school system that helps them to serve students or can get in the way of them not serving students.

So, I would say that is the biggest difference. The similarity is that no matter where you go, you’re going to have disenfranchised students and families that need to be served. And so, every school system has an opportunity to reach and create new systems that are really universally designed for those fathers from Educational Justice. And so that is the work that we’re doing at Interagency Academy, trying to fill in those social economic gaps that exist within society in our schooling system so our students can still have an access to post-secondary plans once they leave us. Because one thing that we know is that schools, if they get it right, you’re able to change generational poverty, and if you get it wrong, you reinforce that cycle.

Dr. Emma Zone (11:08):

Yeah, such a good point. And I think it’s really interesting when you think about that economic context as you described, but the fact that there are still students who have different needs and in some cases, there could be a veil of not understanding that there are students who have those needs, especially if you are in a well-resourced area. And how do we start thinking creatively about serving those students in a way that will help them reach goals as you’ve described, which I love. Yeah.

I want to talk a little bit more about the Interagency Academy. I know you briefly touched on it, but I think it’s such a unique offering and really when I heard you speak last month, it really just kind of blew me away because I think it’s a unique setup and you’re serving a student population like you described that often doesn’t have the support needed for ongoing success and thinking about it holistically, which I think is absolutely critical, from technology to other resources. So talk a little bit more, you mentioned Interagency Academy has these six specialized programs. What is it like working there, teaching there, leading there? What are the students striving for? I’d love to hear more about what that looks like day to day.

Sharonda Willingham (12:21):

I would say our school sits at the top of what we call it as a multi-tiered system of support. And so, we sit at the top tier three. Comprehensive schools or traditional schools we’re not able to meet those students’ need. We serve as the intervention for that student and that family to get them on track to graduation. And so, as students come through our program, there’s an orientation process where they’re learning about our different programs to see what best align with their needs. We’re doing a barrier reduction assessment to look at the student holistically. Are you unstably housed? Do you have food? What are your academic strengths? How do you see yourself post-secondary? And then we’re creating a student learning plan for those students, and we are able to assess them in their time with us to help them become the person that they want to be when they leave us.

And so, it really is assessing their non-academic needs first and then education secondly, because being a disenfranchised child in society, there were a lot of safety gaps that were not filled for that person. And so, we’re trying to come in and fill those gaps, but more than that, we are rehabilitating their identity to school. A lot of times they were not served academically because of social economic barriers and so the relationship with school is very fragile. They have a weak identity to learning, a weak identity to themselves. What our educators do is first try to build that healthy relationship to school while assessing their social economic needs. And through that healthier relationship with schools, students gain self-efficacy to believe in themselves more and to see themselves in a different light.

We also offer CTE classes as another way for post-secondary opportunities so students can see themselves identity as a home healthcare aide or they can see their self as a welder and it builds their relationship to something different outside of academics. But you’re still embedding academics within home healthcare aid. And so, it’s that being flexible with the learning and putting it in a different context, which then creates a new identity to learning and a breath of fresh air for their connection to education.

Dr. Emma Zone (15:12):

Yeah, I love that, because it’s helping to not only personalize to them, but also show some other pathways beyond what they might not even know about. So, it’s kind of not just creating access, but you’re creating knowledge around these pathways and serving in that role as well. Yeah, I love that.

I think this idea of the relationship with school and student identity is such a key piece, not only to the population you serve, but really any student population. And it’s often a missing piece that maybe comes in secondarily because things are so academic focused but recognizing those needs and finding ways to fill some of either those gaps or just recognize the whole person experience. I know when you spoke at the panel, you talked also a bit about how technology has played a role in that as well. So, I’d love to hear specifically within Interagency Academy how technology has played a role in serving your student population. In what ways has it created maybe some of those pathways?

Sharonda Willingham (16:21):

Yes, thank you for that question. As we were going through the pandemic, like every other institution in school, we went virtually for a while, but when we began to come back in person, our students didn’t come back to school. And so, we were wondering, why are they not coming back to school? And we see that a lot of students across the United States did not come back. And so, what we did was we surveyed our students and asked them, “Hey, would you engage in learning if we offered an online offering of your course?” And the students said yes. And because we do serve students who have major economic barriers, one of the things that we found out was that students were not able to come to school because they were parents, or they were caregivers, or they had a job and helping to meet the financial obligations of the family.

And so, what we saw was creating an online campus would allow those students who normally could not come to school, that they could now have accessibility to their learning and be able to balance both the obligations that they have in life, but also meet their academic obligations so they could have the access to the economic mobility that students have when they graduate from high school. And so, the online learning campus was really born out of the accessibility gap and wanting to create an opportunity for students who needed a flexible schedule for them to have that.

Dr. Emma Zone (18:03):

That’s great. And that reminds me of the work that’s being done in higher ed. You talked about post-secondary work and creating those on-ramps for students leaving and graduating and then getting them into whatever that might look like. And we know that the online world in terms of those offerings in higher ed, similar student populations, maybe it’s somebody who’s a new traditional learner returning to finish a degree or to add a certification or to upskill. And so, it’s a similar idea around creating access where there might not be access because of job obligations, family obligations. And I think we hear about that and think about it in the post-secondary landscape, but what you’re talking about is very cutting edge for students that we need to rethink some of the rules of school to be as rigorous, but still serve a very specific need for students.

So, I just appreciate that forethought and the innovation to be honest, and the technology that plays a role in that. So that’s amazing. One of the other things you talked about with the student identity piece has to do with the experience of how somebody defines themselves when it comes to school; this idea of how do I fit into this system that is school? And you mentioned that being sometimes a challenge or barrier for these disenfranchised students. I’ve also heard you talk about the role that parents and guardians play in that same sort of environment. And when we were chatting before the episode, you mentioned that it’s really important to be proactive with students around their identity work.

You talked about the fact that there’s many frameworks that we think about with social emotional learning, learning frameworks, that you can’t get to that good stuff until you center who students are. So as an educator who might be listening to this saying okay, this all sounds good, I am tracking with what you’re saying, but when you talk about student identity and why it’s important, what are some things that or leadership journeys or their context?

Sharonda Willingham (20:21):

I would say identity work first starts with you. Who are you as a human being? Where are you from? What are your beliefs? Students naturally gravitate to educators who know who they are. It’s like an insect to blood. So, you need to start with you and own that and show that, because then students become curious about who you are as an individual because that also opens the door for them to be who they are. And so sometimes it’s a very transactional relationship. Teacher, I give you the lesson, and students are like, okay, but you understand who you are, your passion and why you were here, and the students will naturally gravitate that to you with that type of aura. And I, as a classroom teacher, knew that when I reached my students was when I was learning from them. They were learning content from me, but I was learning life skills from them or seeing the world in a different way.

And so that’s what a great educator does. It is a reciprocal relationship between you and your students. So, I feel that’s where you have to start. But also, at the beginning of the school year, just doing a cultural funds gathering about who’s in the classroom. Are there people outside of the area? Everyone’s locally here, so how can you create an assignment where they’re learning about their local rich history, or do you have a diverse class with students from other countries? Can you create an opportunity where they’re now leading the lessons on something that you are teaching anyway? So, you really have to see who’s in the classroom and then use that as an opportunity to curate learning experience with your students being the leaders because it’s their culture that they are now explaining, telling everyone. And it also sets for, I think, human discourse within society.

If students are able to own who they are, create safety around owning who they are, and then having people in the classroom to own who they are, and you can build that safety and discourse, well, guess what? That will translate into 21st century in the career arena or in the workplace or in just society in general. But that’s where learning communities can really create the citizenship and respect for each other by starting to learn from each other in the classroom. Don’t make your lessons so, we want to learn this, this, and this. How are you inviting the students to curate that learning experience and then learn about each other? And that is a brilliant way to center everyone’s identity in the classroom.

Dr. Emma Zone (23:34):

Absolutely. I love that. Starting with yourself, that reflection piece is so critical because you can’t really build a learning community without that. I love that idea of inviting in, and I think as somebody who used to teach high school, students can sniff out in a second when you’re not authentic. And so, I think sometimes teachers and educational leaders feel like they have to put up this facade where in reality, being human is really what matters. And I have found that both in my face-to-face teaching and in my fully online teaching because that’s where you invite in some of that discourse and the community piece hands down. That’s how we learn best. I love that as a microcosm of skills. That’s wonderful. That’s great.

Well, thinking about taking it to the parent-guardian piece, which I mentioned as an onset to that question as well, this was something that I’ve heard you speak on about how we’re inviting, again, part of that community, the parents and guardians, to be in this conversation. So what are some of the things that you keep in mind as you’re working with that greater community in your school with parents and guardians and how you reach out and communicate with them? What are some of the either lessons learned or things that you keep top of mind as a leader at a school like Interagency Academy?

Sharonda Willingham (24:57):

The most foundational thing for me and the student-parent-teacher relationship is that students come from an ecosystem. A lot of times as educators, we just see this child and we think they just appeared. We know they didn’t appear out of thin air, but the way we interact is in that way. But that student, that child comes from an ecosystem. And so, it’s very important that you reach out to families and really get to know who they are, because that parent is a source of resources for you if you would listen to them, because they are the child’s first teacher. And so, they have so much more funds of knowledge on that human being than you do. And so, opening that dialogue with that parent to really understand their child as a human being. And in our school, a lot of times we are bringing in families and we’re listening to the parent describe the child.

Then we’re thinking, oh, the child loves to draw. Okay, we’re going to create aid and assignment, where you’ll demonstrate mastery by producing a product where you draw. Or you like poetry. Okay, let’s try to create a product where you have to demonstrate mastery of the standard through a poetry piece. So, a lot of times the family has all the information about the student’s likes, and then how are you taking those likes and then curating a lesson experience that this child can say, “Oh, I can do that,” and be very engaged and hands-on.

And so our families and our parents play a critical role in our educating of our students, and they are invaluable resources to the educational program, but we first have to build positive relationships with them first, get to know them, and once the student sees the parent and the educator on one accord, they’re going to be like, okay, I know I need to come in and do what I’m supposed to do. And so, a lot of times triangulation can be ended by just simply reaching out to the parent trying to learn their child, and then the parent sees oh, you really care about my child, and so I’m going to be an ally to you if anything happens, or we’re going to figure out this together so that our child can be successful.

Dr. Emma Zone (27:40):

Everybody rowing in the same direction. But I think one of the things that’s interesting about that, you mentioned the trust factor. You can’t just come in and expect parents and guardians to cooperate without establishing that first. And I remember hearing you say that we also have to remember that we as adults, just like we’re doing our own identity work, parents and guardians also have had an experience with school.

Sharonda Willingham (28:06):

Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Emma Zone (28:08):

Can you say more about that? Because I thought that was so insightful.

Sharonda Willingham (28:11):

Yes. So sometimes when parents are hesitant to engage with you, you have to think why has the child been set up previously to be successful? And so, they have some hesitation because of past educational trauma they’ve had as a parent or past educational trauma they have had as a student. So, depersonalizing how a parent may first appear when interacting with you, because it’s probably some story that has nothing to do with you, but because we’re in the service of public education, they have an opportunity with you to change that narrative of educators.

I think sometimes educators are not aware of power dynamics that can exist in a parent-teacher relationship or a parent-student relationship because sometimes they’re seeing you as the authority figure. You’re not seeing yourself as the authority figure, but they’re seeing you that way. And so, through that filter, they’re making those decisions. And so, it is on us as professionals to disarm and to show them it’s okay, it’s safe. We need to be collaborators and partners so your child can get their needs met, but we need to be on the same page for that. So, it can be a little tricky at the beginning, but as professionals, we could learn those skill sets to be able to help disarm, but a lot of times there was something that happened before they met you that has set the stage for that relationship that they have with you.

Dr. Emma Zone (29:56):

Yeah, I love that. Everyone comes to the table with stories, and we have to be aware of that. Okay, we’re getting towards the end of our time, but I have to go back to something you mentioned in the beginning when you were giving us your intro and talking about your path, because this is something that has come up in lots of conversations that we’ve been having, which is about AI. It’s the hot topic, and we were at a technology-based conference when we first met. So, there’s been a lot of talk about it. It’s everywhere. It’s on everyone’s minds.

So, I would love to hear a little bit as a school leader, how you’re handling it and what your advice is to educators or school leaders out there who might be struggling to figure out how do we fit this in because we know it’s going to be used. I think we’ve accepted that we’re not banning this technology, and it’s obviously important because students will be living in a world where these skills are critical. So what’s your advice as you’re thinking about the AI conversation on your campus and with your team? And for you as an educator who’s leading educators?

Sharonda Willingham (31:05):

For me, I am team AI in the education arena. I know that it’s very new technology, but I know that our students’ educational career, career in general is going to be much different than mine. Our students that are currently in our K12 educational system will probably have to change jobs more than any generation has before because of AI. And so, I believe that it is our moral responsibility as educators to understand the tool because this is our students’ reality. It’s not going anywhere. It’s here to stay. So now what is ethically responsible of us is to learn the tools so that we can teach our students how to best use the tool. So, it could be their assistance in their growth and their educational career if they go to post-secondary institutions like it is here. But it goes back to our original conversation of identity.

AI cannot erase humanity. My belief at this time of May 13th, 2024, I’m saying this today, okay. I don’t know how it can evolve later. And I’m not aware of that technology, but I do believe that how we engage with each other and have discourse with each other is a thing we should be focusing on. And AI helps us to become more capable, helps us to be smarter. It helps us to be more efficient. But humans, I mean, there’s no replacement for humans. And so really being able to dialogue across differences is the skill that we need to have since we have AI, but it is generative, and we know the ethical considerations that it can be very much wanting to please you instead of giving you the right information and all the nuances with AI.

So, I’m just a believer that we need to embrace it because it’s not going anywhere. And our job as educators is to make sure that we’re producing citizens that are able to go out into the world and solve complex problems and be leaders in society. That is our job as educators. And so, if they’re going into a world that has AI as a bedrock or a foundation, then we have to honor that and get out of our way and make sure that we understand the tools so that our students can be successful in this new world that they’re entering into.

Dr. Emma Zone (34:00):

Yeah, that’s great. Thanks for sharing that. I know it’s on top of mind for a lot of people, so appreciate your point of view. So, as we wrap up, I’d love to know one piece of advice that you have for educators who are trying to do that work of reaching all students but might be struggling because there is a lot of diversity in who’s coming to our context day in and day out. And I mean diversity in a very broad sense, ethnic background, learning modalities. We have a lot of plates going at one time. So how do you create a learning environment that is truly welcoming to all?

Sharonda Willingham (34:38):

Yeah, thank you for that question. I think that we have to be in a constant learner stance. You have to approach every day as a learner and that you have not arrived. And approach your work with humility and grace and curiosity because those skills, again, AI cannot curate that. That is very human work that you have to do to stay curious and stay humble and stay in a learner stance so that you are able to be open to the possibilities of what may come in front of you. So that’s what I would say that internal reflection of where are you at today? And keeping a pulse on you, and then staying in the learner stance. And to stand in the learner stance, you have to be curious. And as educators, I hope educators are curious, we are teachers, and we’re supposed to be learning and teaching our students to have curiosity. So the things that we’re doing as educators, we need to embody those skills ourselves.

Dr. Emma Zone (35:53):

That curiosity, that’s the core of our identity work, right? Yes. Well, thank you so much. Thanks so much for being here. We know it’s a busy time of year, and we appreciate that you took some time to share your story with our listeners and to our listeners, this officially wraps our second season. We’ll be back in the fall with brand new episodes, but if you’re looking for ways to stay close to the pulse of what’s happening in the K-twenty education space, we invite you to explore our master classes and blogs on the Teaching and Learning studio website.

Or even better, join us in Toronto at Fusion 2024, which is D2L’s annual learning conference. Thanks to all of our dedicated listeners and curious educators everywhere. Remember to follow us on social media. You can find us on LinkedIn or Facebook at D2L, and check out our YouTube channel at Desire to Learn Inc. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you could rate, review and share our podcast, it will help others find us. Bye for now.