March Brings Madness

NCAA basketball and K-12 education share a common theme in March.  Collegiate athletes prepare, practice, and perform all season until they turn in their resumes to a committee which determines their fate on selection Sunday.  Schools across Ohio--and the country--prepare their students, give them plenty of opportunities to practice, and hope they perform well on PARCC and AIR assessments.  Both systems are maddening and give plenty of expert analysts and laymen topics to discuss and debate.

Watching the coach, Ron Hunter, of Georgia State embrace his son after the loss to Xavier Saturday was heart wrenching.  These young men came together to give their school and fans something for which to cheer.  And for the Cinderella Story fans, they were willing and ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Students across the state took new and very controversial assessments the last few weeks.  Some parents elected to opt-out of the assessments while some politicians, superintendents, and educational associations had their eyes on schools.  Newspapers and media outlets were chomping at the bit to get the horror stories of school technology and testing coordinators.  The House and Senate certainly isn't quietly waiting for results.  They are creating bills and momentum to change the students are assessed.

As March closes and every school has formed an opinion, one thing is certain.  March Madness is in full swing.  Selecting a flawless bracket is just as unlikely as finding a school district without a strong opinion on assessments.  Our district has MAP (Northwest Evaluation Association), PARCC, AIR, ASVAB, OGT, Encore, ACT, Compass, SAT, and PSAT assessments we give to students.  This doesn't include the SLO (Student Learning Objective) data our teachers are required to capture for part of their yearly evaluation.

We alter schedules, close off use of technology, and displace classes to assess students.  We pull teachers to proctor examinations and fill their positions with substitutes.  We assign hours of pencil sharpening duty to our student office assistants and move pallets of exam booklets from various parts of the building.  Moreover, we ask many people to donate hours outside the work week to coordinate, separate, and collect testing materials.

Whether #14 Georgia State was selected to win the championship or #1 Kentucky, it can be agreed both teams are very successful.  And we cannot discredit the performance by Georgia State, even though they lost in the 3rd round.  Just as our students cannot be discredited on one assessment, they have various opportunities to prove their worth.  It may be their 3.5 GPA or they have 6 varsity letters.  It could be their stellar performance in the musical Wizard of Oz or their Superior rating for marching band.  Look for the great things our students are doing, not the one thing they working to improve.  The madness will change as soon as the goals of these assessments are identified.  I just hope we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Resilient Leader

As I navigate the evolving role of the principal, it is important to remain resilient.  Criticism, defamation, and destructive forces will accompany any decision, mission, and/or direction.  Boards change, directors change, superintendents and principals change, and so forth, and this change causes both an opportunity for new and refreshing ideas and the uncomfort of changing the course(s).

I know parents, teachers, and administrators want the best for their students and their schools.  Boards want to be proud of the accomplishments and direction of the school community.  Employers and colleges want students ready to solve problems and work in teams.  Are you serving these expectations?  Do you help support ideas in which foster the development of problems solvers, critical thinkers, and collaborators?  These questions must be considered throughout the year.  Furthermore, the essential questions which guide your leadership and decision making should be obvious to the students and staff in your building.  Not because you tell them, but instead because you consistently use them to influence your decisions.

Remain resilient and steadfast to your core beliefs and mission.  Some will try to bring you down.  You are human and the criticism will impact you.  "If you want to walk fast, walk alone.  If you want to walk far, walk with others." - Burkina Faso.  Use the people around you to make sure you are in this for the entire journey.  We need you to lead and we need you to stay.  Be resilient!