Principles of Principals

I have addressed three point five solutions for school boards that would help sustain meaningful reform.  Today, we tackle the school executive, the superintendent. The school superintendent.  All at once the educational ambassador to the community, and the policy advocate to the stakeholders.  It's a tenuous post, often held only for a short time - but all the same, quite influential.  While the $ is contextually high, and by that I mean higher than a principal, yet considerably lower for job a-likes in the private sector, the average 2.5 year stay impedes sustainable reform.  Sup's have narrow windows of opportunity. Don't be distracted...focus! They say that all a superintendent needs is a majority board, and they get to keep their jobs.  Bullocks.  What a red herring.  A very loathsome way to regard the role of an educational executive.  And yet, private sector executives face the same conditions.  Just ask me...

I've tossed some wet blankets on the school reform fire.  Stirred the pot if you will. In the spirit of TNTP's recent request for more solution-oriented dialogue, versus ad-hominem attacks, we're going to work with the embers we have, beginning with the most powerfully elected body in the United States.   The School Board . I've said it before. You heard me correctly.  At the true grass roots level, there's not a more influential group of people than a school board.  In all their diversity of membership and governance, they select leaders, respond to community needs, and sometimes follow policy...but I digress. To be brief in writing, here are 4.5 solutions for school boards who want to sustain school reform measures; BE AUTHENTIC - In a recent LDS conference talk, Dieter Uchtdorf told an anecdote about lemon juice . In it, this person robs a bank believing no one can see his face .  You see he applied lemon juice to it, believing it would hide him....

On November 3, 2014, behind the distractions of the mid-term elections; the Arizona State Board of Education approved the RFP from SAGE Testing Company for full implementation of the AzMERIT for Spring 2015. If you're a parent, student, or employed in education you need to know some things about this test. In it's entirety, the test is computer based.  Instead of asking your child to select the correct graph from a menu of choices, they will be asked to create a graphic representation on their own. Admittedly, it's a much DEEPER look into applied knowledge.   Utah took the test last school year with startling results .  Less than half tested proficient. Less than half . Either it's a distilled look at UT children's abilities, or the results are skewed by rapid implementation of new standards, new measures of accountability, and new testing protocols. Is Arizona ready? District's who were preparing, have had a minor shift in preparation towards th...