Thinking about what might have been led me to appreciate what already is

How many of you purchased a Powerball ticket when the jackpot was approximately $1.5 billion? I really, really hoped to have the winning numbers for that drawing; I even bought two tickets. I usually restrict my financial donation to the purchase of one ticket, but this time I was going all out in an effort to win.

When the numbers were announced I am sure none of you will find it surprising that my two tickets to a different life simply turned out to be two new bookmarks. Subsequently, I may still head to an Alabama football game this upcoming season, but I will not be driving a brand new motorhome to get there. That is too bad, because I most likely would have invited a few of you along for the ride. Heck, I would have even picked up the tabs at the numerous Waffle House and Chik-fil-A stops along the way!

I purchased two tickets because I wanted an opportunity at a better life, but the experience made me more appreciative of the life I already lead. While thinking about all I would do upon adding a whole bunch of zeros to my checking balance, I also began thinking about the abundance of blessings in my life currently.

I am blessed to be born and live in a nation that allows me certain freedoms, rights, and opportunities that countless others risk death to obtain. My country is far from perfect, but it is a country that allows its citizens to continually challenge it to live up to the promise it made to the world at the very beginning of its history. Moreover, it is the land of opportunity. Don’t believe it? Simply look around you and see the numerous examples of many who through hard work and determination have elevated their station in life. Were our nation’s borders open to all, we would double our population in no time and triple it soon after that; the only people cynical about the American Dream are already living here.

On a daily basis I pray to be a blessing to others as so many others have been a blessing to me. Time and again, I have been blessed by the wonderful people who have walked in and out of my life. I simply could not fathom having a better family or group of friends. I can count on them to lift me up when I fall, applaud me when I succeed, or gently cut me down to size when I get a little too big for my britches. For this, I am eternally grateful. I am where I am—and who I am—thanks to their efforts. The credit for all that is good is largely theirs, and the credit for what is left . . . well, I guess that falls squarely on my shoulders.

There is a lot I would have done had I been in possession of the winning numbers a few weeks back. No doubt there would be a few salespeople out there in a better spot financially due to the commissions they earned off my impulsiveness.  Had I held the winning ticket, I would certainly be in possession of more things, but I really believe I already have all I need.

Two Negative Consequences of the Drive for Improved Academic Outcomes and Increased Accountability

The push for improved academic outcomes and increased accountability in primary and secondary education is intense, to say the least. There are measures to both reward and punish schools depending upon their performance. Jobs and funding are literally at stake, which can serve as tremendous motivation to raise scores. There are positives associated with this push, but there are also two secondary consequences that are clearly harmful to our children, particularly children from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum and children of color.

In the age of increased accountability, teaching has become much more prescriptive, particularly in our low-performing schools, which tend to serve a higher number of poor and minority children. Attempts to “teacher-proof” education is akin to attempting to “husband-proof” or “wife-proof” marriage; it simply makes no sense. Education, at its core, is a relationship between teacher and pupil. The best outcomes are the result of a dedicated, passionate teacher relentlessly determined to motivate a student to think and behave in a manner previously believed to be impossible. Furthermore, this move to a more prescriptive manner of teaching actually harms the practice. It serves to stifle creativity, as well as retard the development of the profession. In addition, it does not serve to engage the various subgroups of our student population currently most in need of deeper engagement in the educational process.

Second, there is an observed narrowing of curricular and extracurricular options for students due to the increased emphasis placed upon performance in certain subjects. Students nearly everywhere see decreased offerings in physical education, art, music, vocational education courses, and other areas that are not measured by a standardized assessment. This is especially pronounced in urban areas and in schools that serve a disproportionate number of minority students and poor students. So, in effect, we are reducing curricular and extracurricular learning opportunities for those with an already diminished set of learning opportunities outside of school, as compared to their more affluent peers. Depriving these students of rich and varied possibilities for learning will have negative effects for both our present and our future. We are likely to see higher levels of disengagement in our schools and to observe a more restricted breadth of knowledge in future generations.

The push for increased accountability and improved academic outcomes is firmly rooted in the desire for what is best for our children and our nation. However, like so much in life, there are always hidden, and often unintended, secondary and tertiary effects for this initiative. There is no harm in desiring a better future for our children and our country, but I believe we are following a flawed course of action. Rather than attempt to relegate teachers to a lesser role, or even attempt to circumvent them in this process, we should embrace the important role they play and do all within our power to improve the practice, subsequently attracting a higher caliber of candidates for the profession. Furthermore, we should increase and vary learning opportunities in an effort to drive academic outcomes. A logical alternative to what is currently taking place would be to work harder to clearly illustrate the interconnectedness of all subjects in an effort to promote a deeper level of engagement. I believe we can do better.

Swimming with the sharks keeps us fresh!

Have you ever been burdened with a tough situation or a difficult person in your life? I am talking about the sort of situation or person that makes you wish time-travel were possible, so you could could instantly transport yourself out of the situation or away from the person. If so, please keep reading--you will not regret it!

A few years back a co-worker told me she believed situations and people were brought to us for a reason or a season; either way it was up to us to determine why they were here. This coincided with my belief that God always builds us down before He builds us up. He uses difficult situations, or people, to build our foundation and to prepare us for something greater to come. That something greater could be a greater challenge or it could be greater success, either way it prepares us for what is to come.

The taller the building, the deeper the foundation; I believe it is the same with people. We cannot rise to great heights, we cannot accomplish great things, we cannot overcome great challenges unless we are adequately prepared to do so. Just as a strong and deep foundation prepares big buildings to withstand the forces of nature, difficult situations and people build our foundation and allow us to weather what life brings our way. They assist in preparing us for what lies ahead.

This article is a great example of how this works in nature. A very wise man shared this article with me this morning and I am grateful God brought him into my life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Importance of Hiring Cultural Conductors

           We all know the importance of hiring good people. Acquisition—and retention—of talent is integral to the success of any organization. The absolute best systems are only as good as the people implementing these systems.

            Getting the right people on board is also vital to the preservation and continued growth of your organization’s culture. Each and every addition to your team is a potential threat to your established culture, so it is important to make intelligent and informed decisions when brining newcomers into the fold.

            Organizations, schools, and teams need people who share their established core values and will support and contribute to the existing culture.  Moreover, they need people who will become conductors for the culture and will assist the existing leadership in spreading the organizational culture to others.

            Leaders cannot be the sole purveyors of organizational culture. The job, and its associated importance, is simply too big to rest on the shoulders of one person. It is absolutely essential that each member of a team be willing and able to contribute to this task.

            Having a team chock-full of cultural conductors will ensure the perpetuation of your organizational culture and mitigate the potential risk posed by newcomers. This is of the utmost importance as a strong organizational culture is the difference between good and great in today’s increasingly competitive business environment.

A leadership lesson from college football

This evening I came across an article on ESPN's website that really resonated with me.  I am fascinated with the influence culture has on teams and also how it influences the academic outcomes in a school setting.  The culture at my school is still a work in progress, so I seize any opportunity to learn about how to implement the culture I believe necessary to assist out school in reaching its potential.

Below I summarized the main lessons I took from the article and italicized any direct quotes from the article.

A house divided

“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25, The Lutheran Study Bible).  This is most likely evident to all leaders and Abraham Lincoln used this quote prior to becoming President, as he saw the truth in these words. Charlie Strong also recognizes the importance of getting all team members on the same page.

Just ask Charlie Strong. Speaking in March at the start of his second spring practice as Texas' coach, Strong began by spotlighting the team's inability to stay united last season, which led to shaky results.

"Within a team there's different cliques, and you've got this clique here and they've got a clique," said Strong, who added that a player's loyalty to his clique can hinder his individual development. "In order to come together as a team, trust has to be built and a team has to come together. That's what we never did, and we still had these cliques we were dealing with."

When I assumed leadership of my present school, numerous team members warned me of the various cliques present with in the school.  I am happy to say that we have largely eliminated this problem, but we still have a few folks holding on to bad habits.  In the coming months tough decisions will have to be made regarding their continued membership on our team.  The work we have to do is too important to allow them to hold us back.

Horizontal leadership

I believe strongly in the importance of horizontal leadership and I wrote on it previously.  There is no doubt in my mind that the presence of horizontal leadership has the potential to take teams, groups, and organizations from good to great; and it appears that some of the top coaches in college football agree.

LSU never goes longer than six weeks without an established unity council. Saban relies on Alabama's peer intervention leadership group, which he meets with twice per month. Saban saw how Alabama's leaders reacted to a series of off-field issues this spring, including the dismissal of defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor.

"They’re really pissed that some of the things have happened, so it creates a heightened awareness that people want to do things to affect it," Saban said. "Where sometimes, when everything’s going good, everybody just assumes it's going to stay that way."

Others agree that team leaders, rather than coaches, can best manage troublesome cliques. Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads thinks player-driven accountability is "the strongest force" to prevent roster splintering, especially when losses pile up.

If you can create a culture in which team members hold one another accountable, I believe you are well on your way to creating a great team.

Summary

Talented teams lose all the time.  Over and over again talented teams fail to reach their potential because the leader fails to get each member of the team on the same page. 

However, books are written and films are made about those less talented teams that somehow pull off the impossible victory because all team members are united in a common purpose, and choose to sacrifice ego and individual agendas in order to achieve victory.  I want to be on that type of team.

Contagion effect:The double standard for charter schools

 Introduction

It would take countless hours to combat all the lies, half-truths, and misconceptions regarding charter schools.  While some of these inaccuracies are rooted in fact (most long since addressed and rectified), most are simply not true, but continue to be propagated by opponents of school choice.

  I have a particular quarrel with those opponents of school choice attempting to lump all charter schools in the same category in an effort to spread the failure of one across the entire spectrum of schools.

 Folks engaging in this type of behavior are guilty of espousing a double standard, are intellectually lazy, and contribute little to the conversation or efforts on how to better serve the children of our state.

The standard for traditional public schools

Traditional public schools generally are not plagued by the problems of perception as are our state’s many charter schools.  They are afforded the luxury of building their own unique brands and traditions, unencumbered by the failures or missteps of other districts.

 For example, in Genesee County there are two districts that are perennially low performing districts, consistently ranked near the bottom of the state’s top-to-bottom rankings.  By any quantifiable measure both of these districts are seen to be as failing and the schools within each district are often referred to as “bad schools.”

 Not surprisingly, the reputation of these two districts in no way influences the reputation of other districts in Genesee County, such as Grand Blanc, Goodrich, or Fenton.  People understand that the performance of Beecher Community Schools has no correlation to the performance of Grand Blanc Community Schools.  Although they are both traditional public schools, they are two very distinct entities and the failures or successes of one are not transferable to the other.

The double standard for charter schools

In contrast, when it comes to charter schools, opponents generally attempt to lump all such schools together when discussing those that are low-performing. 

Charter schools, just like traditional public schools are far from a commodity.  In fact, a strong argument could be made that there is far greater diversity when it comes to charter school than what is observed in traditional public schools.

 The diversity of charter schools

Looking at the 303 charter schools currently operating in Michigan, there are charter schools with specializations in aviation, business and technology, the culinary arts, and numerous other areas.  To lump all charter schools together into one homogeneous category is simply intellectual laziness.

In addition, just as with traditional public schools, while two, or even more, schools may have a similar focus, there is no doubt a great deal of difference between the schools due to their respective cultures, demographics, geographic locations, and staff composition.

 The inconsistency in the view

Quite obviously a double standard exists when it comes to how traditional public schools are viewed and how charter schools are viewed.  This intellectual inconsistency is not needed, not warranted, and certainly not valid.  Moreover, it serves as an impediment to any constructive discourse on how to best serve the educational needs of the children of our state.

There is no doubt that there are many, many similarities among both traditional public schools and charter schools.  However, there are undoubtedly just as many differences and slight nuances that serve to set them apart from one another.

No matter how many similarities there may be between two schools it is generally illogical to associate the successes or failures of one with another simply because both schools fit into a very broad category.  The failure, or success, of one is not necessarily transferable to another.

Conclusion

There are top-performing charter schools and perennially low-performing charter schools, just as there are top-performing traditional public schools and perennially low-performing traditional public schools.  One low-performing traditional public school should not taint the rest of traditional public schools, just as one low-performing charter school should not taint the rest of charter schools.

It is my experience that educators from both camps could learn from one another were we able to get past the false beliefs and misconceptions currently held.  There are great practices in place at schools all over our state and the broad labels of private, traditional public, or charter have little to nothing to do with the presence of these practices.

Rather than focus on perceived differences or inadequacies, what we should focus on is how do we better serve the children under our care.  This is a conversation that should be inclusive of all educators, regardless of the type of school in which they teach.

Tips to build relationships with the parents of the children we serve

               Every educator soon realizes they cannot do what they are asked to do alone.  One of the most intelligent things great teachers do is build strong, healthy relationships with the parents of the students they teach.  When I think about the best teachers in my building one commonality is that they all have good to great relationships with the parents of the children in their respective classrooms.

                If you possess the ability to get the parents to buy-in to what you are trying to do, your ability to accomplish your objective(s) will be greatly enhanced and your job will be immeasurably easier.  The end result being that you are happier, the child is better served, and you built some equity in your school community that you may need, or want, to leverage at a later date.  Please click here to read a great article that details 21 ways to build relationships with parents.