Sharpening the Saw

Education of the conscious is vital to be a proactive and highly effective leader. This requires regular feasting on powerful literature and inspirational speakers, staying current on executive leadership practices and embracing critical friends as thought partners. This past week I had the opportunity to do just that at two events held in Denver, Colorado.

The first event was in response to an invitation from the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a labor-management conference with our Springfield Education Association (SEA) president, Tim Collins and vice-chair of the School Committee, Denise Hurst. There were 150 district teams in attendance represented by superintendents, union presidents and school board members. The focus of the convening was Advancing Student Achievement through Labor-Management Collaboration. We had the opportunity to learn more about promising practices from high performing districts across the country on the “what and the how” of governance in working together to improve teaching and learning for all of our students.

Secondly, I attended the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Conference on Education with an opportunity to strengthen my resolve from the likes of Michael Fullan (an international leader on educational change), Doug Reeves (founder of The Leadership and Learning Center), and Diane Ravitch (research professor and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute). I also interacted with and heard from three of my mentors: Dr. Arlene Ackerman (Superintendent of Philadelphia Public Schools), Dr. Jerry Weast (outgoing Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools) and Dr. Lillian Lowery (Delaware’s Secretary of Education).

Finally, I had the chance to co-present at the AASA Conference with Dr. Marvin Fairman, another friend and mentor as we shared information on Organizational Health in our presentation for Using Data to Transform the Culture of Schools and Central Office Units.

Investing in time for renewal keeps us fresh and serves to help increase our capacity to perform at a high level.

Snow Days

As Mother Nature deals us what has been described as the snowiest winter New England has seen in more than 40 years, school districts throughout the region are left to figure out ways for students to make up the days missed because of snow. In Springfield, we build 5 snow days into our school calendar and as of today, we are two days beyond that safety net. In the past, we have simply tacked on the extra days to be made up at the end of the school year. This year, school districts – including ours – are looking at other alternatives, including using school vacation time or Saturdays to make up the days. As we consider all of our options, our top priority is coming up with a plan that allows students and teachers more time in the classroom for overall instruction as well as MCAS preparation. Speaking of MCAS, we have already asked state education officials to consider pushing back the MCAS dates this year so that our students can recoup classroom time lost by snow days in advance of the state test. So, as you see, Mother Nature has given us much to consider. We will keep students, parents and staff posted as soon as our course of action is determined.

More time in school will be well-used

Today, our students at Kiley Middle School will start receiving 45 additional minutes of instruction every day. This time will be used in a strategic, targeted way to help improve student achievement and represents a major change in how we invest in education for our students’ future. I would like to thank the parents, students, staff and faculty at Kiley Middle School for your courage, flexibility and commitment to changing your school for the better. It has taken an enormous amount of planning, preparation and resources to make this occur and I am confident that it will help us achieve our goal.

Kiley has been a trailblazer in leading our efforts to turn our Level 4 schools around and though the school sets out on its own today as the only school in the district to increase the length of the school day, other Level 4 schools will follow suit next year (Brightwood, Brookings, Homer Street, Gerena, White Street, Zanetti, Chestnut, Kennedy and Commerce). Though details of an extended school day has yet to be worked out at those schools, tremendous work is already underway to help students there in ways that are innovative and far-reaching.

The work of all of Level 4 schools is extremely important as we will use lessons learned there to help shape our entire education system. I must remind you, however, that change does not occur overnight. As a district, we did not arrive at our current status quickly, but rather over a course of time. It will also take time for us to re-build our district into a culture of educational excellence – today we have taken a large step forward toward that goal.

Seeing yourself in student achievement

A challenging concept in public education has long been getting everyone to clearly see and understand the role they can play in improving student achievement. The nature of teaching and learning makes it all too easy for people outside of the classroom to believe there is little they can do help a C or D student become an A and B student. The truth is, those kinds of outcomes occur as the result of many structures, roles, strategies and conditions. Yes, there are some variables beyond our control, (i.e. the socio-economic condition of students, state and federal mandates, district policies and political and economic trends) but there are many factors that we can positively impact every day. We have spent the last two years addressing absenteeism, student learning, achievement gaps, the graduation rate, community partnerships and other important factors that impact student achievement. As we continue to advance the SPS 2009 – 2012 Strategic Plan, signs of hope are all around us and we are working hard to debunk the myth that educational excellence is the work of only teachers and students. To the contrary, we know that it takes an entire community.

Where we’ve been in 2010 and where we’re heading in 2011

As the school district bids goodbye to 2010 and continues to aggressively pursue our vision for a culture of educational excellence for all students, it is appropriate to highlight some of our successes and some of things we aim to accomplish as we move forward. Attached you will find an article I wrote that appears in the current issue of The District Management Journal, which focuses on those things.

The District Management Journal - Winter 2011 (PDF)