Amy Galloway on Strategic Rule-Breaking for School Transformation

Apr 2, 2025 | Podcasts

The Ruckus Report

Quick take: When transforming struggling schools, following the traditional playbook isn’t enough. Learn how effective turnaround leaders strategically break rules, build relationships, and create rapid improvement while working within traditional systems.

Meet Your Fellow Ruckus Maker

Amy Galloway serves as Executive Director of PIVOT School Improvement Leaders, providing intensive coaching and development for principals leading significant school improvement efforts in Tennessee and Mississippi. With experience as a successful turnaround principal herself, Amy now helps school leaders master the delicate art of driving rapid change while building sustainable systems.
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Breaking Down the Old Rules

In this episode, Amy challenges traditional education paradigms:

Key Insight #1: The Power of Listening First

  • What’s broken: Traditional top-down leadership where principals arrive with pre-made plans
  • The shift: Starting with door-to-door listening campaigns to understand community needs and dreams
  • Impact: Building deep trust and authentic buy-in from families and staff

Key Insight #2: Strategic Rule-Breaking

  • What’s broken: Rigid adherence to system norms that maintain status quo results
  • The shift: Identifying which rules to break, preparing for consequences, and focusing on student impact
  • Impact: Creating rapid improvement by removing bureaucratic barriers while maintaining accountability

Key Insight #3: High-Performance Planning

  • What’s broken: Reactive leadership consumed by daily fires
  • The shift: Protected time for quarterly/monthly/weekly planning aligned to priorities
  • Impact: Leaders who can drive strategic improvement even amid frequent crises

Quotable Ruckus

“If you’re going to center your kids’ experience and you’re going to center student learning, that often means you have to make a choice that doesn’t necessarily fit within the expectations or the system. And that is more than okay. In fact, it should be expected.”
– Amy Galloway

Your Do School Different Challenge

Ready to implement these ideas? Start here:

  1. Tomorrow: Block off 30 minutes for weekly planning – make it your most important meeting
  2. This Month: Schedule listening sessions with 5 key stakeholders about their hopes for your school
  3. This Semester: Identify one system norm that needs to change and create an implementation plan

Connect & Continue

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Today’s RUCKUScast in Partnership with:

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