After watching the pieces on New Orleans an Oakland schools, I do have some thoughts on what schools with tough conditions need to do to bring about positive change. I do feel that a lot of it lies with the staff - their visions, their attitudes, their ability to work as a team for the greater good. When watching both of the pieces, I was moved by the dedication of some of these educators. I know that they face a lot of resistance in many forms. However, their willingness to come back each day and keep working towards their vision of education sends a clear and powerful message, not only to students and their families, but to other educators. I particularly remember two statements from these pieces.
The first statement that struck me was in the piece on New Orleans, when Vallas responded to a veteran teacher who referred to him as "bright-eyed." He basically stated that there is no room for negativity at this point, and went on to ask, "What comes first, lower performance or lower expectations?" While I can understand that teacher's feelings, particularly after being in a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, I also believe in self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think something can't work, it won't. So why not try something new? If it works, that's wonderful, if not, we can learn for the next time. But if we as educators adopt a "why bother" attitude, we've failed before we've begun.
In the Oakland piece, I was initially a little puzzled about one principal's use of a table as a metaphor for education. However, once he explained it, I agreed with his statement that "there is no impact without all of those voices." I think it is important to remember that bringing about change and improving the conditions of these schools does not lie in the hands of one person. Rather it depends on everyone's willingness to "come to the table," so to speak.
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I have to say I agree with both of your statements being important. When we speak of school reform, we are talking about two important aspects that you mention: the attitude of the staff and the ownership of all stakeholders. However, both of these hard to do unless you and leadership have vision. No, it is not impossible. This also makes me think, are we developing principals and teachers in the most effective ways? IF they need to interact with the community to make change, what can we do to listen to their voice more? Do we need to study and determine how we can better get there thoughts on innovations and school's purpose. I believe better change could happen faster if we got all involved!
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