The SIIP Network: Building a Culture of Instructional Excellence

PEL’s Systemic Instructional Improvement Program (SIIP) network is a long-standing community of practice for assistant superintendents. In its monthly sessions, members share instructional improvement strategies, explore new research and practice, and consider the leadership implications, all in service of improving instruction and enhancing students’ learning opportunities, experiences, and outcomes.  

Why a Focus on Assistant Superintendents?

Partners sees assistant superintendents as linchpins in the effort to improve instructional practices and classroom learning at scale. 

Two decades ago, when SIIP was launched, there were considerable supports and resources focused on superintendents and principals, but not so much on the district-wide leaders of teaching and learning. “Our philosophy was ‘If it’s going to happen, it’s going to involve the assistant superintendent,’” said Jerry Belair, PEL’s Director of District Partnerships, who previously co-facilitated SIIP with retired PEL program coordinator, Laura Boutilier. “Our goal was to build their capacity.”

Belair said SIIP has gone through an evolution since its inception. He noted that the membership of the group has changed over the years, but ultimately the decision was made to work directly with assistant superintendents because of the influence they hold over systemic improvement in teaching and learning in their respective districts. 

Marlene Silano, a participant in SIIP and the assistant superintendent of Cheshire Public Schools, emphasized the vital role assistant superintendents play in shaping district outcomes. “While organizations like the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents connect superintendents, and ACES and CREC support curriculum supervisors, SIIP specifically creates a network for assistant superintendents to engage and discuss our unique responsibilities related to continuous improvement,” she explained.

“As assistant superintendents, we have a specific lens of influence, and having a community of practice to rely on fosters a shared understanding and offers essential support as we navigate our challenges.”

SIIP was one of the first leadership communities of practice hosted by Partners. At the start, there were just a few districts, and the participants engaged in planning, cross-district resource-sharing, and professional learning. The throughline for all activities was systemic instructional improvement, thus the name.

Between 2016 and 2018, as the network grew, Partners made an overt shift in the membership and focus of the community, even calling the changes “SIIP 2.0.” At that time, the community membership moved to just assistant superintendents and Chief Academic Officers. The program has remained this way for close to a decade. Over the years, dozens of instructional leaders have participated, representing districts of all sizes.

In its current iteration, Kerry Lord and Kath Serino help assistant superintendents understand their impact as system leaders, so the design is deliberate and purposeful. “We talk about the role of assistant superintendents. We ask where they have influence, and we realize they have influence everywhere,” said Kerry.

“Our participants come together in different ways to reconceptualize their roles, to have a little bit of a refresh; to see that there is possibility,” said Kath. “Our message is that the job is big, but it doesn’t have to weigh you down.”

How SIIP Works

Once a month, Kath and Kerry meet with a group of about 25 members in a space provided by the Berlin Board of Education. Participants also attend a half-day retreat at the New Britain Museum of American Art each spring. 

“This community comes together as a circle of professionals,” said Kath. “We are not experts in front with all the answers; they are the leaders.”

SIIP is an empathetic, caring community of practice where each member is seen and valued. “It’s about how we gather,” said Kerry. “At some point, Kath started bringing in bouquets of flowers for participants and asked the group to pay their bouquet forward; give it to someone in your district, and email the group with a picture and the story of why you chose that person. It created such a sense of belonging.” The intensity and depth of focus on content in SIIP is matched with a deliberate effort to build trust, support, and joy.

Kath and Kerry understand that how leaders feel impacts the people they work with. They believe that if assistant superintendents are able to have a sense of well-being, they will be more likely to foster that in building leaders, who will, in turn, foster that in students. Embedded in the way the community of practice gathers and the content they engage with is a sense of “thriving” rather than “surviving.”

“Partners is a smart organization. Not just intellectually smart, but body, mind and soul. They have this holistic, dynamic way of understanding the field and how people get better and how their district could improve,” said Kath. “We help participants see that what they need is what the district needs.”

Building a Shared Language and Framework

In recent years, the group has used a book study approach to anchor collective learning. This helps the group experiment with new methodologies to work through problems of practice together. 

“We have a winning recipe with the books. They help us have a shared language and framework to discuss our roles in these systems,” said Kerry. “I think that’s what is really powerful. Because it’s an affinity space, people see themselves without a power differential. There is a power and respect that’s a driver for the group.” 

“One year, we read Switch, which is all about getting better and how you create the conditions for improvement and change,” Kath said. “The book talks about bright spots. You look at similar conditions with different outcomes and determine what was different in the places where a positive outcome was realized and determine how the approach can be applied to other similarly challenging situations.”

Last year, the group read Toyota Kata by Mike Rother, which the pair believe to be one of the best books written about continuous improvement. Kath said that Rother’s premise is that continuous improvement is not an event; it’s ongoing, a part of the work culture. The book stresses the importance of “go and see,” leaders being in the field where the work is happening and observing, asking questions, and coaching.

This year, Kath and Kerry are excited to use as anchor texts Systems for Instructional Improvement: Creating Coherence from the Classroom to the District Office by Paul Cobb, Kara Jackson, Erin Henrick, and Thomas M. Smith, and a book written by two of their colleagues, Rydell Harrison and Isobel Stevenson, called Equitable School Improvement: the Critical Need for the Human Side of Change.

SIIP: Impact and Outcomes

The impact of the SIIP network is evident in the conversations and camaraderie produced in meetings. Leaders who engage with the network report that interacting with a network of their peers helps them feel more empowered to drive change within their schools. Marlene said she was invited to join SIIP in the summer of 2019 and the cohort proved instrumental in expanding her professional network. She describes the end-of-school-year retreat as an opportunity to reflect on the year and said Kath and Kerry end each session by seeking feedback about what worked and what could be improved, modeling continuous improvement. 

“The process Kath and Kerry use to focus the group is humanistic and ensures that individuals have the opportunity to have the conversation they need with their colleagues.”

As a participant wrote in an evaluation about SIIP, “You always walk away with something. Otherwise, you wouldn’t keep going. Sometimes my personal benefit doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the particular objective that was stated by the facilitators, but through the conversation, the observation, and the reading, something else clicks. I think it would be hard to measure, but the impact is there, and it’s very real.”

To learn more about the SIIP Network, contact Kath Serino or Kerry Lord.