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

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
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

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 How Medicaid Spending Cuts Could Harm Schools
Districts use Medicaid to cover costs of special education, student services. Cuts to the program would hurt, superintendents said.
4 min read
Vivien Henshall, a long-term substitute special education teacher, works with Scarlett Rasmussen separately as other classmates listen to instructions from their teacher at Parkside Elementary School on May 17, 2023, in Grants Pass, Ore.
Vivien Henshall, a long-term substitute special education teacher, works with Scarlett Rasmussen as other classmates listen to instructions from their teacher at Parkside Elementary School on May 17, 2023, in Grants Pass, Ore. Proposals to change Medicaid spending could impact the classroom, where special education services are often covered by the federal health insurance program.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Student Well-Being How a School Nurse Convinced Parents to Vaccinate Their Kids Against Measles
“We know that parents trust not only nurses, but especially school nurses," said Kate King, a school nurse in Columbus, Ohio.
6 min read
Vials of the MMR measles mums and rubella virus vaccine are displayed Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Vials of the MMR measles mums and rubella virus vaccine are displayed Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. As the West Texas measles outbreak grew, a school nurse in Columbus, Ohio, persuaded parents of unvaccinated children at her school to get immunized.
Julio Cortez/AP
Student Well-Being Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Student Mental Health & Well-Being?
Answer 7 questions about the state of student mental health & well-being.
Student Well-Being Opinion After 57 Years in Education, Here’s How I’ve Learned to Build Community
Here are my favorite rituals for creating a positive classroom climate.
Roberta Benjamin-Edwards
4 min read
Children and a book of imagination. Concept idea art of kid, learning, adventure, education, freedom, inspiration and dreaming. Conceptual artwork. surreal painting. fantasy 3d illustration. Building Community.
Jorm Sangsorn