Become a School Leader. No Educational Experience Required

Mayor Bloomberg steamrolled Cathie Black into the system as our new chancellor seeming to give little credence to the concern educators and parents have regarding her lack of educational credentials. Black addresses this concern in her first outreach to her staff sharing that she’s visited more than 20 schools and says, “

“I’m seeing what makes an effective classroom, what makes a great school leader, and how a strong school culture can contribute to learning. But more than anything, these visits remind me why I’m here: to bring the opportunities made possible by an excellent education to every one of our students; to keep their dreams alive, or to ignite their dreams.”

The reaction of many educators and educational administrators is this.
Whoa! Two weeks of visiting schools certainly doesn’t enable you to see what makes an effective classroom. These schools put on a show for their special visitor. An hour or two in a school gives you no insight into what it was that made that school effective. Beyond that, there is resentment from educational administrators that while she was just handed the key card to her new digs, they were required to jump through all sorts of hoops, pay for the privilege to take tests to get certified, pay for teaching and administration licenses, put several years into the classroom before being able to be licensed as an administrator, and pay in cash and time for their masters degree and educational leadership certification...all of which we are told is necessary to be qualified.

They wonder...
Why isn’t she working to get her masters degree then specialized certification while also working full time like the rest of did or still must do. Why doesn’t she have to take the tests we had to pay to take and pay to apply for her ed licenses? Maybe she could be required to teach a class in the school at Tweed so she has a sense of what it is really all about. Educators wonder why on earth their boss, who is charged in part to enforce this process, is being given a pass on ALL OF THIS?

In short, in a system of accountability and standardization, why isn’t it necessary for the person in charge of all the schools to be held to the same standards as those running them?

The reason Ms. Black isn’t held to the same standards as her staff is simple.
We are tied to vague and unclear titles. If Mr. Bloomberg had simply changed the titles to accurately reflect the duties of the new Chancellor he’d likely receive less backlash. He also would have likely been perceived more favorably. One thing educators know is that often, a great educator is not always a great business manager. Anyone who has worked with me knows I’m a case in point. While their are exceptions to this, many school leaders know this is the case and now have business managers, director of operations, or a similar title for someone who runs that side of the affairs while the principal or superintendent serves as educational leader.

The reality is that according to Bloomberg, we needed a strong manager and it seems Cathie Black is indeed uniquely qualified to effectively run a large organization. Should her title be Chancellor, a title that most view as educational leader, even though she has no such background? The reality is that Bloomberg hired Black to be the Chief Operating Officer or Director of Business Management, titles that make sense given her background and duties. Since he didn’t give her an appropriate title, he was required to give Shael Polakow-Suransky the title of Chief Academic Officer serving as second in command. This begs the question, should the educational leader be the second in command to the person who is the business management expert? Why not have the Chancellor aka business expert as first in command when it comes to business decisions, and have the educational leader first in charge of education decisions. This would clear up a whole lot of unnecessary political mumbo jumbo and the reality is that the two positions are usually necessary to effectively run schools.

Most recently, New Jersey’s Governor Christie shared a sentiment that other political leaders are echoing around the nation.

“It’s important that New Jersey public schools recruit and hire the most experienced, talented managers possible,” Mr. Christie, a Republican, said in a statement. “In large, state-run districts, or in schools that have failed our children for generations, we especially need leaders who know how to manage thousands of employees in districts that spend hundreds of millions in tax dollars.”

Understandably educators, parents, and others do find it offensive when politicians declare we need talented managers with no educational experience to run our schools. Yes, we understand we need a uniquely qualified person to "manage" tax dollars, but that is not the same person that knows what is best for our students. What politicians like Christie and the rest need to realize is what Mayor Bloomberg was forced to acknowledge. There are two types of people necessary to run schools today. Let’s stop insulting the intelligence of Americans and start recognizing the importance of both roles necessary to effectively run a school system putting each in charge of their area of expertise.

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Break Political BANdates, Boycott Outdated Assessments, and Empower Students to Learn

Innovative educators are frustrated when forced to follow political BANdates (i.e. a mandate banning something) such as one that has taken hold across many cities in the nation requiring students to power down at school. In New York City, the largest of these districts, the iPad toting Mayor, Mike Bloomberg relies on the same tools he refuses to let students bring with them to learn in school. While he purports wanting to develop students who are prepared for the 21st century world of career and academic success his technology BANdate prevents students from bringing any personally owned digital devices they may rely on at home into school. There are even metal detectors at schools to ensure the devices they (and he) could depend on for learning are not be used in the classroom. If we really wants our students prepared for the 21st century, then we must speak out against political BANdates. Educators not politicians should be empowered to make the decision about whether they want to allow students to use the tools they need to know how to use in the real world to succeed. Here is why this is so important.

6 Reasons Political BANdates Should Be Broken

1. BANdates Result in Dropouts
2. Schools Can Not Offer Real World Opportunities When BANdates Are Enforced
3. Saying Yes To Students Means Saying No To Political BANdates
4. Outdated Assessments with Tech BANdates Results in Students Prepared for The Past
5. Educators Who Think Outside the BAN Are Penalized
6. Political Bandates Shouldn’t be Driven by Success on Outdated Assessments

1. BANdates Result in Dropouts
If you ask educational visionary Marc Prensky, he’ll say, “Let’s admit the real reason that we ban digital devices is that, given the opportunity to use them, students would vote with their attention, just as adults would ‘vote with their feet’ by leaving the room when a presentation is not compelling.” But students don’t have that option. Unfortunately as NYC DOE Innovation Design Director Jonathan Skolnick, shares, “A traditional compulsory education requires students sit through 12 years of classes they never signed up for.” With drop out rates nationwide at about one third with many cities having rates hovering closer to 50% of students leaving school, many secondary students are indeed exercising the option to leave. The top reason motivated students with high GPA gave for leaving school is that class were not interesting and students suggest school offer opportunities in alignment with the real world.

2. Schools Can Not Offer Real World Opportunities When BANdates Are Enforced
Without technology, without the ability to connect, without the ability to use the tools necessary for success in the real world, school becomes a place where students feel trapped and disconnected which is why many innovative educators are morally opposed to enforcing political BANdates. Although New Jersey Principal Eric Shenninger knows that “Banning certainly is the easy way out”he knows educators didn’t get into this work because it is easy. When we ban, nobody has to change the way they do business. Teachers teach the same way. Testing companies test the same way. Politicians measure students the same way and most disturbingly, students are assessed and prepared for a world that no longer exists. When the world inside our schools looks so different than the world in which we live, do we make it our priority to think outside the ban and prepare our students or to we accept our charge to make our students easily and inexpensively measurable political pawns?”

3. Just Say No Is Fine for Drugs, but Not for Technology
Educators and parents who care about preparing students for the 21st century, know it’s time to stop fighting and start allowing students to use the tools they love for learning. If we did we would instantly have an influx in the availability of technology reaching millions if not billions of dollars. Like in the real world, schools would not need to provide tech for everyone, but instead follow the model of internet cafes, libraries, or coffee shops where device-agnostic internet is provided for those with their own equipment and additional devices are available for check out with those in need. Forget the the scary and faux excuse of the needing to secure student data. That can and should be housed separately. Forget hiding behind filtering laws. The internet can be configured to the schools specs. Schools that prioritize this like The School in Harlem figure it out.

4. Tech BANdates Result in Students Prepared for The Past, Not the Present or Future
When we continue to assess students using outdated measurements we are imprisoning them to a school life stuck in the past. Sadly, all too frequently I have walked into schools I know have ample technology resources and have not seen a single computer being used. Instead I’ve see kids writing on paper with pens and pencils because “that’s what is used for the test and that’s how we’re judged.” Even schools with the best intentions require students to duplicate efforts because they are judged on outdated assessment. In these schools students are told, go ahead and do your work on the computer as you like, but you must also get practice with paper /pencil since that’s how we are judged. Why are we wasting student’s time? Why aren’t we boycotting outdated assessments created for industrial workers?

5. Educators Who Think Outside the BAN to Empower Students Should Not Be Penalized
Our current system not only is doing a disservice to our students but research shows that innovative educators are being penalized. If teachers empower students to use technology they intuitively know that they will see a dip in the outdated bubble sheet test scores. Though Generation Tech has been scapegoated by some as the reason for declining test scores, when digging a little deeper we can see the research indicates (you can read more here and here) students who have become proficient using technology will see a decline in paper /pencil tests scores that use outdated assessments. The outdated assessments are keeping our students stuck in the past. We must start to acknowledge that we are not doing what is in the best interest of our children, but rather doing what is easiest and cheapest to provide quantifiable data for politicians and testing companies.

6. Political BANdates Shouldn’t Be Driven By Success on Outdated Assessments
Let’s face it. The impetus for using outdated tests that are no different than those used when compulsory education started in the early 1900s, is that it’s just plain easier and cheaper. It’s easier for testing companies to administer and for politicians to measure the results. When put in perspective it all makes sense for them. Lifting the ban and allowing students to use technology would make the job of measuring students, teachers, administrators, and politicians more difficult and more costly. Weeding out those teachers who don’t have a passion for test prep is easier than measuring teachers who have a passion for real student learning.

These political BANdates result in the establishment of a workforce of educators that look no different than the those who taught our silver-haired politicians and prepared students for the industrial age of the last century. In fact in our current system innovative educators, creative thinkers, and tech savvy students are severely penalized. They are banned from 1) using technology on the test, 2) working cooperatively as you would in the real world or 3) connecting with those in their personal learning network to solve problems. Can you imagine if the iPad-dependent Mayor of New York City had his technology taken from him prior to a speech? Can you imagine if he was told to prepare for work with out the help of his learning network? If it’s not right for the politicians, then it shouldn’t be right for our students.

Break the Ban and Give Schools The Authority to Empower Students
We will never prepare students for success in the 21st century when we 1) follow political BANdates that prevent students from using the tools we all need to succeed, 2) filter them from accessing the sites they need to learn (YouTube is the #1 educational site) or 3) prevent them from developing their personal learning networks using social media like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs they need to connect.

What’s good for the politicians IS GOOD FOR OUR STUDENTS. The do as I say, not as I do mantra of the past is no longer acceptable for students who want to spread their own wings doing as they want to say and do to pursue the passions they want to explore.

If we continue abiding by BANdates cultivating students to be prepared for the outdated world that is mandated to exist inside schools, we may make politicians happier, we may making testing companies richer, but we will not be preparing our students for their future or even their present. It’s time to let our students come out of the dark and allow them to power up for learning!

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