Welcome to the PBL Simplified podcast for administrators brought to you by Magnify Learning, your customized PBL partner. From over a decade of experience with you in the trenches, we are bringing you this top rated educational podcast designed for visionary school administrators seeking to transform their schools with project-based learning. Launch your vision, live your why, and lead inspired. Here's your host, Ryan Stoyer. So, you want to start using project-based learning. So, you figure you might as well wait to the summer and get it figured out. But don't do that. That's a huge mistake. Get your leadership team trained this second semester with design days and then you're ready to train your teachers come summer. So, you can start right now. If you want to know what that looks like, go to pbwebinar.com. pbplinar.com.
You can get uh a static webinar, ondemand webinar right away in our three-year process for starting project-based learning or you can register to get an in-person uh webinar as well. But that'll give you an idea of what it looks like to start project-based learning right away. And I highly recommend that because you want to go see it in person. In fact, that's what we're talking about today. Let me jump in and welcome to the PBL Simplified podcast for administrators. I'm your host, Ryan Stoyer, CEO of Magnify Learning. Thanks for joining me. And today we're talking about top 10% schools. And we've got them in our in our network and What I alluded to in the introduction is that you should go visit one of these schools because the feel is different. The teachers talk talk differently. The students use different words. They use words like collaboration. They use words like conflict resolution and they know what they mean and they legitimately use them and they think they're important.
So you need to go for a visit. And wherever you're at, we can accommodate that, right? So it's super easy. If you you're in Missouri, Texas. Oh, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas. I said Texas already, but Texas is a big state, so I should say it twice. Only one of those is actually really close to the beach, though. So, if you're thinking of like a January visit, like a Fort Myers Beach, then, you know, Babcock Neighborhood Ranch down in Florida is the place to go. Uh, the only completely solarrun city in the US, and they're the school that powers it. They've had 796% growth at their school. Yeah, that's not an error. Like that's insane. Like they are crushing it and they're doing it with project-based learning. They're doing it with a student centered classroom and they're doing it very very well with a lot of fidelity. So highly recommend that you go for a visit.
We have other model schools depending on what you want to see, but that's the one closest to the beach. So again, I'll let you make plans as you want to make plans. Uh but today we're talking about top 10% schools. And the talk goes a little bit like this. Is And you probably want to be a top 10% school. I don't know if you ever thought about it, but you're you're trying you're an innovative leader. You want to raise your school standardized test score. Like that's kind of the low bar. But you also want to be that school that's like the highlight of the district and the community where people want to go to your school. Like teachers in your district are signing their kids up so that their kids could be at your school cuz that's where really cool things happen. You want to be that school. And the first question that I bring to leaders as they're start ing this journey is, hey, I want to be a top 10% school. As we bring that up, the question is is like, what are you doing?
Like, are you doing the things that would get you to that place? Because if you're doing the same thing as 90% of other schools, then by definition, you can't be the top 10% school, right? If you're not doing things differently in some way, then you are going to you're going to hit the status quo, right? And I had a great interview on the podcast with Cynthia Bruno, who's a principal. She's She's a top 10enter for sure. And I asked her what her biggest fear was. Like, what's your fear that like keeps you up at night? And I was like, "Ah, this is going to be so good. I'm going to share this with our leaders and they're going to relate and then they'll they'll want to be listening to the podcast more." And her answer surprised me. I don't know why it shouldn't have. She said, "My biggest fear is that we'd be an ordinary school with an ordinary day and kids would have ordinary experiences. Like that keeps me up at night. Like that is like morally unacceptable.
And I was like, "Yeah, like that's right. Like, you are spot on." And it's the same thing. If you're a leader that wants to take your school to that top 10% tier, you're going to have to do things differently. You're going to be involved in the change process. You're going to need a vision that is bigger than the other visions that are in your network, probably in your district. So, you need to be rubbing elbows with people that have the same ideas that they have these big visions so that you can see what the process is because they're not doing normal things. They don't have normal expectations. They're not doing sit and get. Well, I can't steal my content. That's coming. I'm going to give you here before we go in this episode. I'm going to give you things that these top 10enters do and then things that they don't do because I want you to know.
You're an innovative leader and you're saying, "Hey, maybe you're new to your position and somebody told you that you should listen to your teachers." And that's true. But don't listen for three years. Don't listen for two years. Like, you have to get moving. Because the stats show us that only 11% of principles stay in their current position for 10 years. Only 11%. Maybe it's the top 10%. They didn't do that in the study though, so I can't tell you that answer. But if you want to get to a sustainability plan, you need to be there. Like when you leave, if you want that work to continue like legacy style, then you have to be there for a long time. And you have to have a very clear vision of what's going on. And you have to invest in your people, systems, processes. So when you leave, those can continue afterwards.
And it's not a it's fine if you leave like you might go to central office, you might go to a different opportunity that those things are fine, but you want to make sure that things are running well after you, right? When coach Wooden, the historic legendary coach of UCLA, who had ridiculous winning streaks, when he retired, he made sure, in his words, that the cupboard wasn't bare. He wanted to make sure that UCLA went on on to do well after him. And they did. They won the conference championship three years after him because he had systems in place. He had people in place, processes in place so that excellence could continue. That's something that the top 10ers do. They're concerned about vision, process, and systems. Like, yes, people. Of course, you have to be concerned about people. You need the right people on the bus. And what I found is that those top 10enters have no problem helping somebody get off the bus if that's the case. and they do it very well.
They do it very professionally. They don't do it emotionally, but they make sure the right people are on the bus. But I think the part that maybe you don't know if you if you haven't you haven't worked with these folks is their desire for systems and processes, things to live on beyond them. So that things are happening when they're not pushing those different ideas that there are PLC's in place that are creating innovation that their coaches are being used in ways that are not just, you know, filling in as a sub. They are like doing professional development. We find that our folks get those coaches PBL certified very quickly because they want to have experts inhouse that are moving the culture along, that are creating innovation because they know that it's the professional development that's making their staff better, that makes their school better. So, there's a lot of things that those 10enters do and I I really Why don't you go visit them?
Uh again, it doesn't have to be in our network, but if they're in your district, like if you if I said, "Hey, who's the number one school?" Like the most innovative school in your district. If it's not you, like that's fine. Like you'll get there, but go visit that principal. Just go visit for a day. Visit for half a day. Watch what he or she does. Listen to the words they say. See how they listen. Which sounds weird, but it's true. Great leaders listen well. See they lead. Ask them some good questions. What are the things you say over and over and over again? That's a great question for top 10% leaders. What are the things you say over and over and over again? Because they do. They don't say the vision once. They'll have three things, right? They'll have three things they say over and over and over again. And then ask their staff, "What are things that principal Josh says over and over and over again?" And they'll have them.
And you and you have to go, "Oh, I didn't know I had to repeat those things over and over and over again. That's right. It's okay that you didn't know, but now you do. There's a process to become that top 10enter. And it's definitely not doing what the 90% do. Like, you going to have to do things differently. It does not mean that you're working 120 hours a week. That's not the solution. And you should go see the top 10enters because they'll tell you the same thing. They are super intentional with their time, though. Let's get into that. Let's get into what do the top 10enters do. Number one, They have a leadership team. They're not doing this alone because they know there's too much work to do. They're not doing this alone because they know there's too much work to do. So, they have a leadership team and possibly multiple teams underneath the leadership team. Their leadership team is probably made up of assistant principles, coaches, and teachers.
They want voice from everyone so that as they're moving things forward, everyone has a voice. They're creating grassroots movement and buyin from a leadership team perspective, not a top now mandate. Are they leading? Yes. Collaboratively. The team's coming up with that vision with the leader leading it and everybody else in that team gets to go out and talk about it. They use their coaches will. I mentioned this earlier. I'm stealing my content too early, but coaches are a big deal. Coaches are do not just sit in an office and plug a bunch of numbers from standardized tests. If they do that, it's quick work. Like we just say, "Hey, this is the ugly work. that has to get done. Let's do it quickly and get back to the real work. The real work is adaptive work. It's thinking work. It's reflecting on what we're doing and helping teachers get better at teaching, getting better at their craft. They might go in and co-e. They might go in and demonstrate.
The coaches are going to be utilized in a very intentional way because that's the principal knowing that he or she cannot be in every classroom. improving individual teacher skill sets. That's why you have coaches. There's a very clear written three-year vision. Your top 10enters have written it down. Once you write it down, it's real. Everybody knows it's real. Everybody can read it. Now, we're committed to it. If you're just saying it, you're going to have to say it an awful lot because people won't get it. Even those that write it down say it an awful lot. They know those things that they're going to say over and over again. One other thing that our top 10 percenters do is they really control their calendar. How much are you working on the weekends right now? That's that's a challenge I always give our top 10enters. What are the things that are on your weekend? And do they have to be there?
One of our top 10enters was was printing grades because that's what she did when they first started the school. So that was still just her job and if it gets messed up, it's a big deal. So she still had it. It was just okay. But is there anybody else that we could hand that off to? And of course we found out there was. Do you block out time on your calendar for you to do deep work? Top 10ers do. You go on their calendar, they don't have white space. They might mark their space as blue. And that means that they're going to work on that grant right then or they're going to write out the vision right then. So when somebody comes to the door, the secretary says, "Hey, do you have time? So so and so wants to talk to you." No. My calendar's full. Did you see it? Yeah, I did. Yep, it's full. And they do the deep work. It's on their calendar so their calendar doesn't get hijacked. Those are some of the things that top 10enters do.
I want you to get around them so that you can feel and hear and understand what they're doing. And you don't have to go and say, "Hey, would you be my mentor?" That would be fine. I'm not against that. But it's just as simple. I would be transparent, though. Just as simple to say, "Hey, I'm trying crush it with my school. I I I want to be a top 10% school. I want to be in that innovative school that people love just like your school. So, can I get some of your time once a month? Top 10 percenters say yes to that. Right? They're very protective of their time. They want to pass down things to the right people. If they just get assigned a mentee that they have to pull along, that doesn't go as well. But if you step up and say, Hey, I could use this. Well, will you give me some time? I think they're going to say yes. Here are some things they don't do. Just as important. Top 10ers don't do sit and get during their faculty meetings. Not going to happen.
Th all those things will be in an email somewhere or a newsletter. And they actually expect people to read that because they tell their staff, hey, in this faculty meeting, we're not going to do all the sit and get stuff that usually happens. That's going to be in the newsletter. it's going to come out. You have to read those things and reply. Otherwise, those things will have to sneak back into our faculty meeting and we can't do really cool collaborative work. Everybody says, "Okay, that makes a ton of sense. That's better than you just talking at me. Now, let's do the cool collaborative work." And that's what they do. They also don't have a fixed mindset. Now, growth mindset has become uh maybe a little bit overused at this point, but most of our top 10enters when they see a problem, they will solve it. like they're just going to grow.
They're going to ask, they're going to do, they're going to try and they're going to keep trying and keep asking and keep doing until they solve that problem. Growth mindset is is crucial. If you want to be in the top 10%, if you don't, if you want to be status quo, then a fixed mindset's just fine. Some kids just don't learn. I mean, what do you what do you want from me? Parents don't come to parent. Nothing we can do about it. Fixed mindset, not your top 10 percenters, though. They're going to figure it out. They're going to try things. They'll tell you what they've tried. They'll tell you what it hasn't worked. There'll definitely be things that haven't worked, but they're also going to come across things that do work. The last thing that they don't do is they don't hide in their office. And hide might be a strong word. That could be offensive, but it's true. They're not going to be in their office because there's all this busy work to do.
They're and they have the same amount of busy work. They're they're going to protect their staff from the busy work, but they're going to find a way to do it where they still get out of in the classrooms. They still get out to sit in the back of a classroom and they get to leave a post-it note in the back that says, "I loved what I saw. I saw this, this, and this very specifically, and they're going to love leave one to three notes that are really positive about what they saw. And their teachers are going to keep those notes. At least some of them are. I've seen it happen." But they're going to get out and they're going to talk about the vision. They're going to say, "Oh, I saw what you did. That absolutely relates to the vision. Great job. You crushed it. and they're going to share that in their newsletter because it relates to the vision. And then more people are going to see it because you're celebrating what what you focus on grows.
And then more people are going to do those things. And then she's going to look to that and put that in the newsletter. And now you're redefining normal and what gets put in the newsletter. It's the things that align with the vision. So there you go. Top 10ers. If you're listening to this, you're close. I I almost guarantee it. Otherwise, you you're you're just going to leave. Don't leave a review if you're not cuz you probably hate this podcast cuz we're only going to talk about innovative things, right? We're to talk about those things that challenge you. We're talk about those things that take you to the next level. So, leave a review if you're one of those top 10enters and you're digging this. Uh, leave a review, reach out, ask a question, come be on the podcast. We'd love to share your story. We'd love to do that, especially if you're like a 20enter and you want to be a 10enter. We'd love to coach you through that process. That would be fun.
We'll just do the whole coaching session right here on the podcast live. Oh, it's a little dangerous, but you'll love it. It's so good. Your top 10enters are thinking differently. They're doing differently. They're resting differently. It's not more harder. It's not those things, but they are doing it differently. There are things they accept and things they don't accept. It's very clear for everyone. Get around those people. Go tour their school. It'll be different. They'll invest in you. They'll give you advice. They're not top 10 percenters do not hoard good ideas. They share them because they know that's how they get more. So reach out. They're generous, right? Find one in your district. Find one in your area. If you don't have one, reach out. I'll hook you up with somebody. All right, friends. Go out and lead inspired. That's just what I needed to bring PBL to my school. If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing the show. It only takes 2 minutes to scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select write a review. Then be sure to let us know what was most helpful about that episode. Your review helps the next inspired leader just like you find their why and lead inspired.
