“Today, we will do the difficult. The impossible will take a little longer.”
By Bruce J. Stewart
Ruby Payne, author of A Framework for Understanding Poverty, writes, “Since 1980 we have concentrated our energies in schools on achievement and effective teaching strategies.”
Achievement and effective teaching strategies should always be at the forefront in the objectives of educational leadership. At all grade levels, effective teaching needs to be based upon a curriculum that emphasizes and celebrates critical thinking. Unfortunately, I have observed an educational approach that has replaced learning objectives with learning activities and software programs, and in the process, teachers have implemented passive approaches without clear objectives.
The NCLB legislation has been vilified as the current cause of today’s educational ills. Teachers, as a group, have made unfair claims that individual state standards, state proficiency tests, and NCLB have handicapped the nations’ teachers. Today, teachers claim they are now required to “teach to the test” and only to the test, and as a result they have relinquished all creative power.
Student achievement cannot be reduced to a series of methods, learning activities, and/or learning programs. However, student achievement can be accomplished through a belief in students as learners, and the pursuit of the art in teaching. Teachers must understand the intangible factors and believe in the power of an approach that seeks to understand and elevate the souls, the spirit of learning.
Payne also writes, “The key to achievement for students from poverty is in creating relationships with them.” My experience with the students of Traner Middle School taught me the truth in Payne’s philosophy. By establishing meaningful relationships with students, my success in connecting with the students academically, became possible, and given enough time, significant achievement became the norm. My belief in the students could not and would not waver.
As a result, student achievement became one of the products of both quality teaching and artful teaching. Student achievement as measured against any and all of the current baselines (NCLB, state proficiency tests, and other academic assessments) can and will exceed established norms. Also, the realization of extraordinary student achievement demands implementing a curriculum that supports critical thinking, self-discovery, and an approach which understands the beauty of the art of teaching.
The question that must be asked is, “Have we as a learning community, won or lost this day, this week, or this semester?” Failure to have benchmarks and goals constitutes a lack of vision and leadership. Failure to provide a curriculum and a structure that is aligned with the needs of the students also constitutes a lack of vision and leadership.
Schools need strong leadership. A school principal must be able to lead the students, the teachers, and the family community. Ineffective school principals fail at providing leadership for all three of these groups. Average principals provide adequate leadership for either the students or the teachers, but not both. Excellent principals provide leadership for all three stakeholders – teachers, students, and the families. Excellent principals establish a vision for the school, empower the teachers to accomplish what other teachers say is impossible.
The quote “today we will do the difficult, the impossible will take a little longer” must be believed by all principals and teachers.