Student Well-Being Q&A

For a Day, School Leaders Urged to Immerse Themselves in a Student’s Life

By Evie Blad — February 16, 2016 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A group of education organizations is challenging school leaders around the country to spend one day shadowing individual students so they can develop greater empathy for their charges’ experiences.

Participants in the Shadow a Student Challenge sign up to follow one child for a full day during the week of Feb. 29 to March 4, eating lunch with them, attending classes, and maybe even riding the bus with them. Those taking part will connect on social media to share what they learn, and will get resources from the organizers—School Retool, a fellowship that encourages school leaders to promote deeper learning and solve problems in their buildings; IDEO, a consultant group; and the d.school at Stanford University, which encourages innovation in schools.

Susie Wise, the K-12 lab network director for Stanford’s d.school, talked about the vision of Shadow a Student with Staff Writer Evie Blad. The exchange has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is empathy something school leaders should include in their improvement strategies?

Susie Wise, the K-12 lab network director at Stanford University’s d.school, is an organizer of the upcoming Shadow a Student challenge.

WISE: To a person, [principals who have shadowed students] all had realizations, really different ones that were very profound to them. It felt like it was a kind of interesting gateway for them in terms of shifting their mindset about their role as a leader.

What is the difference between following one student and the day-to-day life of being in and out of classrooms?

WISE: You’re intending to really shift your position to not be the leader who is directing traffic and working on 47 things at once.

One of the things you get to see is the space in between, for instance. You see transitions and you see posture. Some of the leaders who’ve done it have been surprised with how passive the student’s day is, how much sitting there is, how many transitions there are that don’t make much sense. You don’t see that when you’re looking at a master schedule and you’re in your leader mode.

It’s very important work to make sure all of the pieces fit together, but then you have to also sit in it and see ‘how does this work for the student?’

You want school leaders to find “hacks” to solve problems they may identify while shadowing. What’s a hack?

WISE: [We work] with people who are in situations that feel constrained, and that’s why we’ve landed on hacks. A hack is a small, scrappy experiment that gets you moving. So the opposite of a hack is saying, “We need to get a bond and raise $10 million and build a new building and then have a new bell schedule.”

A hack is, “Gosh, I have heard about advisory,” which is where you really ensure that every student has a deep relationship with adults in your school. And, to roll that out schoolwide, that takes a lot of orchestration. ... Try it. Get two teachers to try a collaborative project with two classes. Do an advisory with six kids for one week and then find out from the kids and from the teachers: What does that feel like? What shifted? Could this be an important way for us to work? And then keep going. We call it a quick win. A hack helps you get to a quick win or a quick loss, and that’s really important too.

How should leaders pick which student to shadow?

WISE: The most important thing is to be really intentional about it. Who are the groups of students in your school that you know the least about? What’s most important is what might you see and how will that connect with the questions you have about your school. ... Whether you are a struggling student or a star student or someone in between, the experience of being noticed and having someone with authority show that they care is actually really powerful and validating.

Coverage of social and emotional learning is supported in part by a grant from the NoVo Foundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the February 17, 2016 edition of Education Week as Principals Urged To ‘Shadow’ Students

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Opinion 4 Steps Students Can Take to Help Make Tough Decisions
When students feel stuck, they can harness the power of the nonconscious mind to help them move forward.
Kennon Sheldon
2 min read
Images shows a stylized artistic landscape with soothing colors.
Getty
Student Well-Being From Our Research Center Students Think Social Media Is Fine, But Teachers See a Mental Health Minefield
It's important for adults to recognize and understand teens’ perspectives in order to teach healthy social media habits.
8 min read
Custom illustration showing a young female student floating above a cell phone while in a protective bubble that looks like a split happy and sad emoji. Digital and techie textures applied to the background.
Taylor Callery for Education Week
Student Well-Being Q&A 'It Terrifies Me': Clinical Psychologist on Tech Overuse in the Age of AI
Lisa Strohman has dedicated her career to connecting the dots between tech overuse/misuse and mental health problems.
4 min read
Custom illustration showing a young female student wearing a book bag and standing inside a protective bubble that looks like a split happy and sad emoji.
Taylor Callery for Education Week
Student Well-Being From Our Research Center Social Media Is Hurting Social-Emotional Skills. How 4 School Districts Are Fighting Back
A majority of educators believe social media negatively impacts students’ social-emotional skills, an EdWeek Research Center survey found.
7 min read
As part of a SEL lesson, 6th grade students at Swope Middle School in Reno, Nev., practice online safety measures.
As part of a social-emotional-learning lesson, 6th graders practice online safety measures at Swope Middle School in Reno, Nev., on March 19, 2024.
Emily Najera for Education Week