< Back to Interviews

Troy Walton, Assistant Principal, Plaza Middle School

Can you explain your prototype?

We’re doing early interventions. We’re focused on what benefits early interventions have on children and how do we get it in the hands of the appropriate stakeholders..i’s really [about] identifying what are the priorities of parents.

We recently went to a Pre-K registration for the school division, [which included people] who qualified for free and reduced lunch, military, and others and we asked: what are the things that you value? Reading to your child? Playing with your child? It was enlightening for us to hear their responses because it was them telling us information instead of us making the assumption. We also asked parents what were their challenges? What prevents you from accomplishing tasks? Time was the biggest response.

What we took away from these conversations is that we can pick two or three things that can really pack a punch that parents are onboard with and know is valuable and we can package it in a way that doesn’t overwhelm or scare people off because of the time commitment. People are tired and stressed, people have other things going on. You have to do Maslow’s before you do Bloom’s. We can’t scare people off. How do we get [this information] in their hands? Everyone is having a challenge with that, it’s not just schools…

We want to remember that the whole point of this is equity...We’re going to sell: Do you value equity? Do you think all children deserve the same opportunities? And selling the idea of equal opportunity.

What has been meaningful for you in this process?

I always had this idea that [in education] we throw a lot of resources at fixing the hole. We do so much at the secondary level to get kids to graduate, and I often thought that we need to do things before then. The problem is you don’t see results for 12 years [when you start early]. Whether it’s politically, financially, or some of those people are not going to be doing what they are doing in 12 years. This work spoke to me because we know there are all great things we can do to help fix the problem, but how about preventing the problem? I think that’s why this experience has been really meaningful for me. It just connects with me. The equity focus jumped out and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. It’s such a diverse group. We have a lot of different people: parents, teachers, administrators, a parent that home schools her students. That’s a very diverse group and that’s been really helpful because everyone really listens to what everyone else has to say.

How is this process different from what you expected?

It’s slower than I thought. I had one other design thinking experience [within my school] and it was coinciding with this. It was interesting to do that design thinking process at the same time; it met more often, but it was tackling a smaller problem. It was interesting with this process how dynamic it was. One of the lessons I learned along the way: the bigger the problem, the slower your work if you want to get sustainable change. Everything else has been great.

What’s your biggest takeaway or learning?

The biggest learning piece is from a leadership standpoint — whether working with parents, community members, teachers, or students — in my role its just really understanding the idea of giving and getting voice from people. Making sure everyone is heard and really understanding that listening gives you a lot of good information in order to make a better decision. We get so busy in our lane. It’s easy to say no, or yes, or not now. But sometimes it’s really important to remember that piece of getting better at decision-making and making sure I have everyone’s voice, not just the person who is addressing the concern. A parent comes in and says something, and this design thinking process made me think about who else do I need to hear from? Who else haven’t we heard from?

What could be improved next time?

If I had to nitpick, the whole timeline and process could be spelled out a little clearer. I don’t know if that was changed during the year..I just know that it made us relax a little bit [when we heard] that when we get to June it doesn’t have to be the final prototype. It’s the final one for our work so far, but it’s not the end. So there [will be] some questions that are not answered in June and that’s OK. Other than that I think everything has been great. 2Rev does work with a lot of different people and they do this work often, so they know when people are stuck, when people are not getting along, or are, etc. I feel like Todd and Kelly do a good job of sitting back a little. They interject when they need to. I feel like it would be easy for them to say one or two things to speed the process up, but that’s not the point. I think they do a really good job with that. And we have talked in circles and they just sat there and let us talk in circles and that’s part of the process, you have to have patience and each group is different for sure. They do a really great job.

How, if at all, has your definition of innovation and integration shifted?

This is my second year at my school, I came from a different place, so the first thing I do with my staff, like the math department, is I am going to ask why a lot. I am trying to understand why we do what we do what we do. I want the information of what led to the decision to do that in the classroom. That’s what attracts me to this work. Yes, you are going to find things that are highly effective, but not everything we do is highly effective. If we don’t ask why or challenge ourselves there’s no growth. So selfishly what can I learn from this [work] to help me be better? That’s what intrigued me. What does true innovation and integration look like? Now I have a better picture of what it looks like. Now I have a better idea of continuous improvement and continuous growth, and what does it look like and how do we do it? Innovation, it’s thinking outside the box and it’s allowing everyone to be at the drawing board. Integration is everyone collaborating to support each other in that work. We have some great new ideas and everyone had a voice in forming this.