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Whenever I urge principals to pursue a vision for 100% student success, I usually get one of the following reactions: Some tell me that I’m being totally unrealistic. With teacher shortages, post-pandemic learning loss, SEL issues for students AND staff, they believe there are just too many obstacles to 100% success.

Others equivocate. They too believe that 100% success is impossible and try to convince me to lower my sights to something they feel is more reasonable, like 80% success—and for some, even that feels like a reach. “The reality is,” they explain, “we can’t save them all.”

Some get angry with me and immediately start questioning my credentials, demand to see my research, or interrogate me about my experience in schools as if to say, “Who are you to tell us to reach for 100%? You have no idea what we deal with on a day-to-day basis.”

But the saddest reaction I get—the one that really breaks my heart—is when principals stare off wistfully and say, “I really WISH I could help every child, but…” and then their voices trail off a bit as they remember the educator they used to be, the one who actually believed they could and should help every child be successful.

No matter the reaction, I don’t blame them. After all, as a profession, we no longer talk about helping every child be successful. Sure, we still toss around platitudes like, “All means all,” or “every child, every day, no matter what it takes,” but the reality is that while we still believe that every child deserves to be successful, we no longer truly believe that we can achieve 100% success in our schools.

But what would it look like if we did believe that every child could and would succeed? What would we do differently?

Step One: Set a 100% Vision.

Robyn R. Jackson at NASSP’s annual conference last year. PHOTO COURTESY OF NASSP

The first step is to set a vision for 100% success. No more setting incremental goals. I’ve nothing against making steady progress toward our goals, but every time you create a plan to “increase reading proficiency to 62%, representing a 5% increase this year” all you’re really saying is that in a year, we will only be failing 38% of our students instead of the 43% we’re currently failing.

What’s more, incremental goals lead to incremental strategies. Ask yourself this: Would you choose the same strategies you’re choosing now if your goal were 100% success? If the answer is no, then it means you need to stop focusing on small gains and spend your time and energy only on those things that will help every child you serve be successful.

Many of the principals I mentor have seen the results of making this shift. The moment they shifted from pursuing small incremental gains and focused on 100% success, they were able to make bigger gains in a shorter period of time. For instance, Kevin, a high school principal went from 70% of his students passing their courses and earning credits to 98% in just one semester by simply focusing on 100% success instead of incremental gains. Tosha-Lyn, a middle school principal, doubled her students’ reading proficiency DURING the pandemic by doing the same thing.

I’ve seen this same story play out time and again. When you pursue 100% success, you choose 100% strategies. As a result, you blow right past your incremental goals and see dramatic gains in a surprisingly short period of time.

Step Two: Build 100% Systems.

Once you commit to a 100% vision for success, the next step is to build systems that support that success. I always say that you get the exact results your systems are designed to deliver. If you want better results, you simply need better systems.

For instance, does your discipline system set students up to make good choices and successfully manage their own behavior, or does it simply punish them for making bad choices? Does the way you give students feedback (i.e. grades and assessment results) sort and label students or does it help students become better learners? Do your systems around planning empower teachers to think rigorously about the standards and make better instructional decisions or does it rob teachers of all decision-making and essentially make the curriculum “teacher-proof?” Do your systems around teacher observation, feedback, and evaluation empower teachers to grow, or do they embitter teachers and sap them of their motivation to improve?

In other words, are the current systems you have in place designed to deliver success for every student? If not, then you need to re-engineer your systems until they do.

Step Three: Chart Your Pathway to 100%.

One of the hardest parts about pursuing a 100% vision is that you must unlearn a lot of what you’ve been taught about what it takes to succeed as a principal and reconnect with what you’ve always known.

You see, I believe that you already know what it will take to achieve 100% success for your students. And the solution is simpler and more obvious than you even realize.

The problem is that you’ve been taught to over-complicate things—to build 72-step, five-year strategic plans, look at 5,000 data points, and spend weeks conducting elaborate root-cause analyses, when you already know that student success ultimately boils down to a few simple principles.

Instead of being seduced by the latest tactics and the shiny new programs, focus on the things that really matter. For instance, if your vision is that every student be at or above grade level, then you’d do better to focus on helping teachers understand the standards and align instruction to the standards than enforcing the five “best practices” currently being advocated by your district or checking whether teachers begin each day with a five-minute warm-up. Then, with relentless discipline, cull anything else that is not directly contributing to your students’ success.

Step Four: Stick With Your Plan.

Often, the biggest challenge to building success for every student isn’t setting your 100% vision; it’s sticking with your vision when things get tough. You see, once you embrace the idea that every child deserves to be successful and you begin working toward that vision, there will be three things that will consistently challenge your vision.

The first is other people. The moment you start pursuing 100% success, you will trigger naysayers. That’s because your belief in 100% directly challenges their complacency. Every step you take toward 100% success invalidates their excuses about why it can’t be done. Unfortunately, some people would rather defend their doubt than be inspired by your proof. So, it will be important that you surround yourself with others who also believe in 100%. Most of all, it’s important to keep striving and soon, your success will drown out the voices of the doubters.

Many of the principals I mentor have seen the results of making this shift. The moment they shifted from pursuing small incremental gains and focused on 100% success, they were able to make bigger gains in a shorter period of time.

The second is your circumstances. You see, the path to 100% isn’t easy. It will take hard work and determination. But the truth is, you’re already working hard. The difference is that now, you’re working hard at something that truly matters.

The third challenge is perhaps the most insidious—it’s your own self-doubt. Everyone who sets a 100% vision has the same thought, “What if I set a 100% vision and I fail?”

But can I be blunt for a moment? You’re already failing.

If your school is not at 100% success right now, then that means you are failing some students. So, there is no need to fear failure. You can only go up from here.

And that’s the most exciting thing about pursuing 100% success. The moment you embrace a 100% vision, you become so inspired by your vision that failure is no longer an option. In fact, the power of your vision is so strong that it overcomes your fears. You care more about reaching your vision for students more than you fear looking bad in front of your peers. When you get to that point, you become unstoppable.

So, is 100% student success possible? That depends on you.

Robyn R. Jackson, PhD, is the founder of Buildership University. A former teacher, instructional coach, and school administrator, she helps principals achieve success for 100% of their students with the people and resources they already have. She will speak at UNITED in July.