LeaderTalk

A little help from my friends....

I just got back from Westerville, Ohio, where I spent 3 days at a Board of Trustees meeting for the National Middle School Association.  I've been a member of this organization for about 20 years, and a North Region Trustee for the past three.  I'm hoping to be elected to one more term this spring, and that is because I have discovered it has taken me the three years to acclimate to the role of Board member, a leader at a different "level".  We talk about "bird's eye view" and "worm's eye view"; I've been guilty of using the clichés, which somehow sound more "folksy" than "global view" (or "myopic view"!).  It is interesting, though, for me to think a  bit about what it means to be a trustee, and what that role really demands in terms of leadership.  This foray into service to a professional association influences the way I look at what I do in my career, and reminds me regularly of the need to step outside my local sphere of influence into a bigger circle of leadership
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As an assistant superintendent in a district where we are taking a good hard look at secondary school reform and a committed middle level supporter, it pleases me to see that new research on what it means to reform senior high schools is so firmly grounded in seminal middle level thought.  The NMSA document This We Believe, which has gone through a few iterations since its initial publication over 20 years ago, focuses on key characteristics of middle school aged students (ages 10-14, typically 5-8 graders) and then goes on to discuss what DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE middle schools provide for students.  If you take a close look at this document, and Turning Points (1989), the Carnegie report on middle grades education, you'll find themes that resonate throughout the National Association of Secondary School Principals more recent publications of Breaking Ranks and Breaking Ranks in the Middle, which focus on school reform.  Middle school program components like an adult advocate for every student, rigorous and relevant curriculum, community involvement, service learning, smaller learning communities----all are being implemented in an effort to improve secondary schools across the nation.

I've been lucky in the placement of my time on the Board.  NMSA has moved into some new initiatives, taking its original mission of work with middle school teachers and administrators to new levels of leadership. I see the objectives of NMSA falling into a few critical areas---advocacy, resources, professional development, and program assessment.   A critical publication Success in the Middle: A Policymakers Guide to Achieving Quality Middle Level Education has been delivered to every U.S. Senator and Representative as well as thousands of state and local educational leaders. Work in Washington DC is calling new attention to the needs of the "kids in the middle". NMSA Board members have personally met literally hundreds of people to share the important messages of the organization.  This guide (which can be downloaded from NMSA's website at www.nmsa.org) has sparked program discussions in districts across this country, Canada, and many countries internationally.  NMSA has stepped up its delivery of professional development through its national conferences (over 10,000 attendees in Minneapolis in 2004, nearly 10,500 in Nashville in 2006[[heading for Houston in fall of 2007), regional workshops (see a complete schedule at the website), publications, podcasts, free powepoint presentations, and research briefs.  Another new initiative offers on-site professional development as a purchased service; one of those available services, the NMSA's School Improvement Toolkit has been used by nearly 100 schools in the last 18 months to allow for an in-depth look at a school's strengths and areas needing improvement and specific direction for school improvement and staff development.  Minneapolis Public Schools is one of several large urban districts that just used this significant tool as a step in revisiting their middle school programming. 

While this is sounding a bit like a paid advertisement for the National Middle School, that is not my intent.  I am indeed a huge fan of the middle school concept and this organization, but its relevance here is that I am reminded while serving in this role that there ARE resources for leaders, and that we do not have to reinvent EVERY wheel. 

Look for resources at www.nmsa.org

Walking the Talk

After twenty years in education as a teacher, assistant principal and principal, I returned to a different kind of academia and spent eight great years at a university coordinating a program for educational leaders and teaching in policy and administration.  Nurturing fledgling school administrators, working with preservice teachers, and engaging in lively discourse about education made the work rewarding and stimulating. Then the opportunity to rejoin a K-12 school system as an Assistant Superintendent surfaced.  For lots of reasons, some good, some purely practical, I chose to take that leap.  The local paper’s lead said “new school administrator gets to walk her talk….”. Through the whirlwind of “newness”, and the déjà vu of feeling that some things never change, I’ve spent the last year reacclimating to a world I once knew intimately.   Lots of friends and colleagues have enjoyed the “ivy tower” tweakings, reminding me that I left what seems to them a Mecca for school personnel.  The cynics ask if I find the chasm between theory and practice deep and wide.

“MY” new district is embarking on an envied journey.  We are growing.  Our student population doubled in the last seven years, and is projected to double again.  We are an “exurb”, one of the “last” available areas for expansion off the edge of a major metropolitan area.  We are working on transitioning from being a “big” small district, to being a “small” big district.  We have passed referenda.  We are in the planning stages for a new high school, a district reorganization of all secondary buildings, and a comprehensive program review for Pre K-12 programs.  We know we will need to pass another referendum in a few years to add another elementary school, and then another….

With these stars aligned, we see a tremendous opportunity for moving our district firmly into that realm of “world class schools” designed to produce successful 21^st Century learners. We have a task force of multiple stakeholders studying, thinking, engaging in dialogue about who our “Futuregrad” is, and what we have an obligation to provide for their future success.

It would massage the ego to be able to say all that collective university and public school good thinking and the 30 years of educational experience make this job easier.  While that may be valid on occasion, the truth is that working in public school systems is hard, hard work.  I believe that teachers come to the profession because of a huge sense of mission---that they answer their “calling”, and want sincerely to help kids learn and succeed.  I work hard to support those individual and collective missions.  I have colleagues whose inventiveness, creativity, sheer energy and resilience astound me.   We have students whose stories break your heart, and students whose potential and trajectories ambivalently remind us that these kids will go well beyond our own realities---with careers and accoutrements we cannot imagine—even in the wildest of science fiction scenarios. 

These times call for leadership. Since I’m now back in the “real” world, time for reflective and thoughtful planning of the direction in which I want to lead is at a premium.  (And that’s my ONLY excuse for being 6 days late with my initial post!) What leadership means and how that translates into what policymakers do, what I do, what our principals do is a question about which I think daily.  This Blog is helping me, FORCING me, to decide what to think ABOUT. Surely, over time, I will post some erudite and thought provoking comments…! I am not sure if my contributions will ever constitute an “aha” for anyone else, but I am grateful for the obligation and opportunity to reflect…..