
SmartBrief checked in with Dr. Tracie Anderson Swilley, who last year was named the National Association of Secondary Principals’ Principal of the Year. She shares how she keeps staff engaged and motivated, how important it is for educators to teach students soft skills — from getting organized to answering the phone — and how vital it is to show teachers why your school is the place they want to be.
Transcript:
Diane Harrington: Hello, I’m Diane Harrington, an education editor at Smart Brief, and I’m thrilled to talk today with the amazing Dr. Tracy Anderson Swilley of Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro, South Carolina. In the fall, she was named National Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The association’s CEO, Ron Nozoe, calls her the real deal.
You’ve probably heard already that, under her leadership, math and reading proficiency rates among Black students have soared to 74 and 76%, respectively. And that 81% of 2024 graduates were accepted to 2- or 4-year colleges. And that Fairfield Central’s graduation rate reached its highest percentage — more than 90% — just two years after she arrived.
Dr. Swilley is proof that socioeconomic factors don’t doom students to failure. — At Fairfield Central, 100% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Dr. Swilley, you’ve talked about school culture in almost every interview so far — changing students’ perceptions of themselves, building school pride, recognizing college potential or teaching students to get the best non-college job they can.
Ron Nozoe says you excel at “cultivating future leaders and fostering a culture of high expectations” and “is exactly what we need more of in education.”
Let’s jump in and get some more details. We talked about in previous conversations changing the culture at school with students, but how do you get the staff on board first?
“My whole thing is, how can we collectively come together? Because no one person is smarter than all of our minds together.”
— Tracie Swilley
Dr. Tracie Swilley: Well, thank you so much. I’m honored to be here today and join you.
I would say to get staff on board, you have to show the need. And so one of the things that I, as a former math teacher, data is what drives me. And so when you can show the data, and not that it’s just a feeling or a perception or I think, but the numbers show exactly what we needed to get done. And I think that was the start for us of really getting the staff to buy in.
But also the biggest thing with staff buy-in: A lot of times in leadership, leaders feel like they need to tell people what to do. And, so, I’m a collaborative leader by nature, and so my whole thing is how can we collectively come together, because no one person is smarter than all of our minds together, and we’re all trained to do this work, so let’s look at this data and let’s decide how we’re going to come together to tackle the work.
So when teachers feel like they have buy-in, they have voice, they have support, then you’re going to get what you need to get done. Now it was a process and so we had to weed out those that were not a part of the belief systems that we had here at Fairfield Central. And that’s because, like I tell everyone, Fairfield Central may not be the place for you. You may need to be somewhere else where you can thrive and be successful, and that’s OK. And, so, recognizing that.
But I just say now that the staff is all in. It was basically about using the data, showing the need, asking for their opinions, giving them voice and not only asking for their opinions, but they can see their opinions and their ideas embedded into what we’re doing. And, so, when they know that you’re listening with purpose and not just putting on a facade that this is what we’re going to do, I think you get the buy-in that you need and it’s a process.
Harrington: You say that it’s a process. I know a lot of principals are very eager to jump into some change efforts and the teachers are as well, especially those who have already bought in. About how long did that process take at your school?
Swilley: Well, I would say the first couple of years that I was here, it was really almost an observation. Of course, we fixed and tackled things that were quick wins that we could do to improve what we knew needed to be done. But I had experienced being in a school environment where some things were tradition that were not negative, and a new leader came in and just was going to do these swooping changes and did not check the pulse of what was tradition and what was an established part of the school and the community. And I think that’s very important.
And, so, everything does not need to be changed. And, so, taking the time to really get a pulse of what’s going on, a pulse of what is causing your data, because you can come in and rip out some things that are actually helping your data because you’re just coming in doing these massive shifts.
So I think really taking the time to do some observation as well of what is tradition, what is essential to your school community?
And so one of the things I’ll tell you, when I came in, I was eager and we were at Griffin and we were a mystical creature, and I came in with this cute little Griffin, found out very quickly from the alumni that there is one Griffin, there is only one that I can utilize. And so I respected that. I respected the fact that this was the Griffin that had been established that all alumni were looking forward to, and I didn’t need to change that.
And, so, coming in I had to learn real quick, figure out what are the traditions, what are the norms, what are the cultures that are not negatively impacting what we have going on in the school? And then use those to build the systems and put the things in place that we needed to correct.
Harrington: That’s great.
In one interview, switching gears here a little bit, you talked about the AVID elective program, and what really struck me was your comment about how its eBinder and organizer feature could and should be shared with students schoolwide. Can you explain how you’ve brought this important skill to the non AVID students?
“We assume [students] know all the things to do, but they really just need some steps.”
— Tracie Swilley
Swilley: Well, organization is key. So I will tell everybody [that] before I’m a principal, I’m a parent. And so I’ve had the high-school student that I opened his book sack and I don’t know how he finds anything. Notes are crumpled up. Balled up papers that I’m supposed to sign are tucked away, and I never seen them.
And, so, I knew it was a very essential skill. If we wanted our students to work on retention of material, then they needed to be able to review their material. But in order to review their material, they needed to be able to find the material.
And, so, one big part of AVID is WICOR strategies and the O and WICOR is for organization. And, so, I was like, how can we use this to do some things schoolwide? Because some of the best practices that are in — well, all of the best practices that are in — AVID can be put throughout our school campus.
And, so, one of the things that we did was we as a school bought binders for all of our students. So every one of our students gets a binder with dividers, with the pencil pouch, with paper, and we fill it all up and they have four dividers for the four classes that they take on a 90-minute block.
And teachers schoolwide do binder checks, not to be punitive, but to help our students get organized. And so even if a child gets a low grade, they didn’t have what the teacher was checking for in their binder, they get an opportunity to make it up because the thing is not to be punitive with that grade.
The whole goal is for us to get organized so that the students can be able to find their materials, study their materials, review their materials, and ultimately help with retention and improve student achievement. So that was our goal with the binders that we have now been using for three years.
Harrington: Did you fill those with sort of xeroxes of the templates that are available for AVID?
Swilley: Yes. So now all of our teachers use graphic organizers. That’s one of the major strategies that we put. We also give our students Cornell note paper that they’re able to do with the Cornell notes. A lot of my teachers have adjusted it. So I used to be an AVID math teacher, and so I talked to the teachers about how the kids can make the foldables with the Cornell note systems of, you have problems on one side and then the steps to solving the problems and lifting it up to be able to quiz themselves and review. And so some of those practices that we share with our teachers, even with using regular notebook paper, not necessarily having the Cornell note paper, but yes, graphic organizers strategies for checks and balances for students, the data checks, keeping up with their grades, keeping up with assignments.
So we also put in there having their agenda books with the way they write down their assignments. And so those are tucked in the front of the AVID binder. So really utilizing some of the things that we already had established on our campus, but just helping our kids get more organized to be able to find it when they need it so that they could be ready to prepare and study.
Harrington: That’s excellent. I had a son who had that same backpack as yours. He’s since grown up and gone on to actually make a living, so it eventually gets there. But he also mentioned how no one had told him how to organize things and how to take notes properly.
Swilley: I think we assume a lot of things, especially about high-school kids. We assume they know all the things to do, but they really just need some steps. And those really are skills that we’re preparing them for the workforce and for college of really figuring out, how do I put things that I need to do in order to be successful in a schematic process so that they’re able to do that when they’re faced with any type of adversity. They can just kind of break a complex task down to something smaller and be able to navigate it as they should.
Harrington: And that leads into my next question, thank you, which was, what are some of those other factors like organization that we assume kids know but they don’t really?
Oftentimes, you were disappointed when you didn’t get what you expected. But did the student really understand your expectations?
— Tracie Swilley
Swilley: Well, I think a lot of times adults, we assume kids know what we expect from them and we really don’t take the time to share our expectations. So, for one of the things for us was really establishing our Griffin pride matrix of really understanding what is good behavior in the hallways, what is good behavior in the cafeteria, because you’re no longer in elementary school or middle school where your teachers are going in the cafeteria with you. And, so, this is the first time they really transition to have those freedoms of lunchtime: How do I navigate the 40-minute lunch with no one really holding my hand?
And, so, not assuming that they know those things. What is good classroom behavior? What is being a good student? What is being just a good Griffin? And using that to be able to teach our students what we wanted to see, because oftentimes you were disappointed when you didn’t get what you expected. But did the student really understand your expectations?
So we really broke that down and explained that to our students.
Another thing was really helping our parents understand, how do I assist my high school student? You’re here all the time. This is new math, this is new English, this is new, and it’s really not. But really just helping the parents by giving them essential questions that they can ask their student.
A big deal for us is just simply, “How was your day?” One of the things is asking your student, “Who is your person? Who is your person at the high school that you can go to?” I want every kid to have a person, somebody they feel is their advocate away from home.
So really helping our parents understand how to help their students navigate through each grade level. We kind of break it down: the ninth-grade parent, the 10th-grade parent, the 11th-grade parent and the 12th-grade parent.
I try my best to make it as transparent as possible, because one of the things I recognized as a mother that I get to see the inside scoop as a principal and a mom. And so really trying to make that available to our parents was a big deal.
But I think the biggest thing was not assuming that high-school kids knew anything — because they’re just kids in bigger bodies — but just telling them and showing them and demonstrating and modeling again, what is best practices for instruction? If you are a teacher, you just don’t give the kid the problem or the activity without modeling what are exemplars.
And, so, we needed to do that on our campus with, what are our expectations for dress code? What are our expectations for behavior? How do you accomplish the things that make you on track to graduate? How do you get career-ready? How do you get college-ready? Breaking all the things down so that kids have a full understanding of what they’re expected to do.
Harrington: Do they have an opportunity to sort of work on those people skills that you need once you get out of college, no matter — I mean out of high school — no matter what you’re doing?
Swilley: Absolutely. So we have opportunities where if administrators, when we’re going into the classroom, the students have the opportunity to share with us what’s going on, greet people at the door that come in, give a firm handshake, eye contact, some of those skills that we know are missing in this generation that’s often consumed by technology. So really helping them with their interpersonal skills. And, so that changes throughout so it’s not the same person throughout the classes when they’re visiting. So really prepping them.
One of the big things was I would have students answer my teacher’s phones, and so teaching them good phone etiquette. You are not at your home. You’re not answering your personal phone. So how would you answer a phone in a business? This is a business. And so teaching them how to say, “Thank you for calling Ms. Vincent’s room. This is (whatever their name is), how can I help you?”
And, so, we can teach them those behaviors so that when they transfer out of here with those soft skills, they know how to do that.
We talk about with tardies and coming to school, being on time and what is that? Being on time is not running in when the bell rings. Being on time is actually (being) early — and that you have time to prepare and kind of calm yourself and get ready for whatever your day may be.
I talked to them about using affirmations to start their day and speak positively — because one of the things that we know is that your attitude can overshadow your ability. So if you have the wrong attitude, you can negate the abilities that you do have. So teaching them how to navigate hard, how to handle things that are hard in life better, and then those teamwork skills. That’s another big one of incorporating collaboration and working with others. And tackling a problem and overcoming when you’re different. Respecting diversity, embracing diversity. And then, also, this world would be real boring if everybody was the same. And, so, looking for that and how you can use your strengths to be able to work with others.
“Lead where you’re strong; team where you’re weak.”
— Tracie Anderson Swilley
And then, team: I tell the kids, “Lead where you’re strong; team where you’re weak. And so really understanding how all of us working together will make things better. So those skills we try to make certain we tie and connect definitely to preparing them for the workforce.
So Wednesdays here is always geared to Workforce Wednesday. And, so, we highlight a career — this month is STEAM. And, so, we’re highlighting careers in the steam fields. And then on Thursday, we follow it up with College Thursday, and so we highlight a college that will also help with that particular STEAM field. And, so, I think this week we’re talking about computer programmers, and then I think we’re showcasing East Carolina University.
And, so, those are things that we do to try to navigate and cultivate, recognizing that everybody may not go to college and everybody may not go straight to work, but making certain we show that both are equally great pathways to be successful.
Harrington: That’s terrific. I wanted to switch a little bit back to teachers. Educators around the country have been feeling really picked on in the past few years. They’re overworked, they’re underpaid, they’re underappreciated. And you spoke in previous conversations about lifting up principals and assistant principals. How do you work with the teachers when they’re often so down lately?
Swilley: Well, my whole thing is I want people to enjoy what they do. Days are hard, and so I often say to my staff, “Every day is not going to be Sunday, but there’s something good in every day.”
And, so, I try to maintain or help cultivate and lead an environment where they enjoy being here genuinely. You just have a good feeling when you walk in the door, and that’s the energy that I try to bring to the day.
And, so, we will do our things for our staff that are just out of the blue. For example, “Out of the blue we celebrate you.” And they had different little blue items that were in the teacher staff room that they were able to just pick up and enjoy just to let ’em know somebody knows that it’s hard. We don’t forget what it’s like to be that educator in the classroom.
I’m going to go in and teach a class. We want to keep that pulse and keep that understanding. One of the things that I often try to do for my teachers to make sure we keep a pulse is I have my guiding coalition that’s pretty much comprised of my teacher leaders in the building who will come and tell me, “Hey, we got this one feeling this way, or this one’s feeling, so the staff is a little tired. Hey, can we do this? Can we do this?” They’ll keep a kind of pulse and keep me in the loop.
Also, we do surveying. So, we have the ability to allow our staff to anonymously give us feedback on how’s the instructional leadership? How is the principal trust factor with not just the principal but the assistant principals? How do they feel about parent communication working with students? Do you feel safe?
So I think these are all of the things, like, I don’t try to negate what is the reality. I try to deal with what is the reality. So the things that we see out there — school safety — let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about what we feel here, making certain that morale is up. Let’s talk about the under-appreciation of educators post-COVID, and how are you feeling the political side of it? How are you feeling? What are your … so we just go ahead and make certain that we address the elephants in the room, recognizing that several of my teachers, many of my teachers, drive past multiple districts to be able to come to my school. And so why do they do that? They could work somewhere closer to their home, but I challenge them.
No place will make them feel like home, like Fairfield Central. And so that is my overarching goal. We’re here more than we’re at our homes, so let’s make the time that we’re here fun as possible, but also make certain that we’re walking in our why and our purpose and we’re supported in that. So my teachers know if anybody is interrupting your ability to deliver instruction, I need to know about it. All right? I need to know about it. And they know I’m going to support them in that effort.
Harrington: That sounds terrific. Boy, you’ve got it all together there. You’re just doing such an amazing job. No wonder you’re the principal of the year, and congratulations for that.
Swilley: Thank you. And I tell you it’s because of my staff, my students, my community, the supports that I’ve had in place, the village. I often will say the principal needs villages too. And so the village that I have that supports me to be able to do what I need to do, it took time to get here.
And I often tell people, “Trust the process,” but recognizing that your hard work will pay off. So when you invest in it, when you use the data, when you genuinely are walking and working in your purpose, you will reap the fruits of your labor.
Harrington: That’s a great place to end this on. Dr. Swilley, thank you so much for your time. I very much appreciate talking to you, and I’m sure our audience will as well.
Swilley: Thank you.