If we can all agree that strong leadership leads to positive outcomes for kids, then why aren't we doing more to recruit and TRAIN stronger leaders?Inspired by our discussion today about the influence of leadership on school culture, I left class curious about the obvious lack of strong leaders in Baltimore City Schools. In an effort to be transparent, I think it's worthwhile admitting that I believe that a school culture is shaped predominantly by a school's administration. Thus, as a first year teacher working in a poorly managed school, I blamed a lot of the confusion and chaos I encountered on a daily basis on my administration. As a result of the low achievement and frequent misbehaviors of my students, I often found myself thinking, "Is every city school like this?" And sadly, it seems like far too many are.
I choose to believe that the leaders recruited by the city are qualified, and are made ineffective by the constraints of their position. This is a plausible theory, as I'm sure even my own principal didn't enter her profession hoping to be ineffective. So, what factors contribute to qualified candidates transforming into ineffective school leaders? I offer two explanations:
1. The constraints placed on administration from central office make them ineffective, as they have very little power, and are often overwhelmed by responsibilities.
and/or
2. Administrators are inadequately prepared and supported, thus they are ineffective because they don't have the tools and skills necessary to lead a struggling school.
Perhaps it is a little bit of both, but out of curiosity, I decided to research the typical preparation programs that produce school leaders. I compared JHU's Administrative Certification Program (certifies administrators to work in any school district) to KIPP's Miles Family Fellowship/Fisher Family Fellowship program (certifies administrators to found their own KIPP school).
JHU requires students to complete 18 credits of coursework, and a guided internship. The internship is described as, "a capstone course; it is completed in the school where the student works and is performed under the careful supervision of an in-school mentor and a university supervisor." Essentially, you must complete night classes and assume a leadership role in the school you teach in. Sounds similar to the preparation we received to be "effective" teachers. (No offense, JHU!)
KIPP requires fellowship applicants to have at least 2 years of teaching experience, and have proof of high student achievement during those years in the classroom. Once accepted, Miles Family fellows are required to spend at least two years in a KIPP school; one year teaching in a KIPP classroom, another spending 10-week residences at several KIPP schools throughout the course of a year. For both fellowships, overwhelming amounts of PD (link below), one on one leadership coaching, school design plans, AND graduate work are required to be approved to be a KIPP principal.
Why the difference? As we discussed, KIPP's success as a charter is largely due to the strong leadership that KIPP's administration provides to the school community. The positive school culture that exists within the walls of a KIPP school is replicable, but only if leaders are properly prepared to replicate it. I am not recommending that every school leader in the nation complete the KIPP program, but it makes sense why our school leaders are failing. We know from experience that 18 credits (we completed 18 credits this year) and experience aren't enough to make us into transformative educators. Yet, we expect our leaders to be transformative, despite their lack of preparation.
Clearly, we must do more to prepare leaders for the challenges they will face in a failing school system. When will we prioritize the expertise of our leaders, knowing that their expertise will affect thousands of staff members, and hundreds of thousands of students?
JHU Administration Program
KIPP Fellowships
5 comments:
Is being an effective leader the most important part of a principal's job? If so, what do you think about bringing in effective leaders from other professions to run schools?
Last year, I personally attended some leadership courses at http://www.robinsonleadership.com and I've found out a lot of interesting and helpful things. Communication is a very important quality of a good leader. In an organization, a leader must communicate clearly and passionately. By the way, great article above!
Naush - I think that's a really interesting idea. Plenty of businesses and organizations bring in leaders from the outside. At the same time though, while a top Facebook executive might find it easy to jump to Google, the transition to a school leadership position would probably be a lot less seamless. This makes sense, since Facebook and Google, while different organizations, are still a lot more similar to each other than either is to the Baltimore city public school system.
Which raises an interesting question: are there ANY organizations with clear parallels and similarities to the public school system? Short of finding school leaders from other school systems, is there anywhere it makes sense for public schools to search for leaders on the "outside"?
Naush, I like that idea. Simeon, you brought up a good point that it would be difficult to find an organization with similarities to a public school system. What about looking into health care & hospital administration? I only say this because my dad has worked in health systems, and a lot of what he does is similar to what school administrators should be doimg. I'd be interested in looking into various business structures that Baltimore City could use as a model.
I definitely think being an effective leader is the most important part of a principal's job; all the management and admin that principals do would be ineffective if they were not an effective leader in those tasks. I also think that having experience in the trenches of being a teacher makes a principal more understanding of his staff and more knowledgeable as to how to change his school. I think it may be helpful to have a member of the administrative team who was a successful leader in business or another realm, but the principal should have a significant education background.
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