{"id":2435,"date":"2026-09-14T20:29:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adgneducation.org\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2026-09-15T20:17:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:17:03","slug":"the-most-useful-white-paper-ive-read-in-5-years-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adgneducation.org\/es\/the-most-useful-white-paper-ive-read-in-5-years-2-2-2-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A five-minute exercise worth millions of dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2017, a state agency brought my team in to develop an improvement strategy for hundreds of schools in the bottom 5% of performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knew principals were one of the most important levers for improving schools, and the state was considering investing more in principal training and support. We wanted to know: were principals getting the support they needed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We surveyed and spoke with principals and school districts, regional service centers, and third-party organizations supporting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One principal had nine \u201ccoaches\u201d between all of these agencies and entities. Nine. Seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine different individuals asking probing questions, sharing advice, and sometimes telling this principal what to do. That meant at least nine meetings a month, and some of them met weekly. None of these coaches, even the ones deployed by the same district, were coordinating on priorities between conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another principal estimated she was spending 30 hours per month preparing for, sitting in, and following up on her \u201csupport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was trying to express the madness we were seeing, so I walked up to a whiteboard and started drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looked something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That crude drawing became something I now call a support map. It didn\u2019t take long for the state to reallocate millions of dollars that had been going to uncoordinated and overwhelming \u201csupport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the following year, principal satisfaction improved, and fewer principals were reporting conflicting priorities as a major barrier to improvement.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the most extreme case I\u2019ve seen, but I\u2019ve been using support maps ever since. They take about five minutes to sketch out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grab a sheet of paper or step up to a whiteboard. In the middle, write the stakeholder group or individual you are most dedicated to supporting right now. We\u2019ll call this your target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some example targets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n