Reflection #1

The CITE program has provided me with a sound foundation in Educational Administration and a yearning to learn more. It has been a truly inspiring program, aligned with the ELCC Standards, aligned to the SBL exam, and ultimately aligned to gaining employment. Great The tattoos were pertinent:

“Lead with your heart.”
“Don’t go up the ladder.”
“No significant learning takes place without significant relationships.”
“The three R’s: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships.”
“The three C’s: Communication, Communication, Communication.”

Flushing High School has been charged with transforming themselves by the State of New York and thus has received a considerable amount of funding to support initiatives within our school. A new principal, fresh from the Principals’ Academy, assumed leadership in September. His leadership has been inconsistent and received with criticism from both the union and the staff in general. 

In January, our school was visited by the State Education Department (SED) to access our implementation of the transformation plan. Our principal was questioned for five straight hours while other evaluators observed hallways and classroom instruction. Their report included concerns about school culture and school tone.

When the NYCDOE sent their reviewers in for the Quality Review just last month, their observations, combined with numerous data points left many questions to be answered. The superintendantsuperintendent, who is rarely visible in our school with the exception of this evaluation, grilled the cabinet for four hours:

  • Your school has failed to meet AYP in the last three years and yet not one teacher in a staff of 200 has received a “U” rating?
  • What are your specific goals for this year?
  • And where do you stand right now?
  • What is your evidence?
  • What is your action plan?
  • When was the last time your curriculum was evaluated?
  • Is your curriculum aligned to the common core standards? No one’s is

As a new administrator, fresh from the CITE program, I felt prepared for this type of questioning and anticipated the focus on data and a shared vision. Due to the newness of my appointment, I was not the central focus of this meeting, but my part was well prepared and well presented.  My data was accurate and my goals for my department were clear. I utilized the buzz words that are so popular in education. However, it was apparent that many of the senior administrators were ill prepared and were caught in a “gotcha” moment. The leadership of this school has been failing on many levels for some time. To paraphrase another tattoo, they have only passed the trash and never taken any out. The result is a school with a 59.6% graduation rate that is failing 41.4% of the students. My future in this building is uncertain, but my quest to have an impact on the quality of education in New York has only been fueled by my experiences. Sounds like you are certainly on the right track

In Designing School Systems for All Students, the parallels between the findings of the State and the City at Flushing High School were glaring. The City reviewers, over a three day snapshot, were able to identify the curriculum as a major concern. The outdated NYC curriculums have not been revisited in my tenure at Flushing (almost 7 years). The outdated curriculum is not engaging students. Consequently, the negative impact is seen not only in academic performance, but in school tone (what the State of NY cited). The connection is glaringly apparent and yet I feel some fail to see the proverbial light.

In addition, the comparison of a school board to a hospital review board was extremely powerful and provided me a visual of what a learning organization might look like in a school. Treating a failure as an opportunity to reflect and learn is such a novel idea and completely foreign to education. Our failure to accept the brutal truth and current reality impedes our progress forward. Similarly, in my experiences, we are constantly looking for the negatives and behavior we would like to change instead of promoting the bright spots. As noted in Designing School Systems for All Students, “if one counts negative events, such as failures, the organization will find more failures. In the United States, we need to count and reward student success.” How many students are motivated by a teacher, administrator, or parent screaming at them? Does that build a relationship or simply tear it down? The underlying idea of RESPECT is critical to building significant relationships whereby teachers can effectively communicate with students by first listening.

In my quest to align my department with the mission of the school and the district, I encountered numerous roadblocks. I consulted with my principal, who informed me that he hasn’t had the opportunity to re-write the mission yet? Excuse me? Using inquiry as my guide I probed further. I suggested that perhaps we should invite the UFT representative, some teachers, a student, a parent, and maybe a member of some of the CBO’s in our building to participate in developing that (shared) vision. In fact, that sounds awfully like the SLT and they have a meeting next Wednesday.:-) I find the ignorance of the principal and the staff for the past 9 months unnerving. We have had no guide. We have no vision other than just making it through our next visit from the State (scheduled for 4/12). In our cabinet meetings the short term fixes are always brought up, the UFT representative complains that we are simply triaging, and I assert that it must be an AND/BOTH scenario. We must do the band aid fix AND look for a long term fix. But the problem, from my perspective, is we are looking to PD’s offered by outside programs to come in and fix a symptom not the root cause. Why are the students walking the halls? Is it merely a discipline problem? Is it a tone problem? Is a culture problem? What is causing this culture problem and how can we dig deeper? Is it our lack of focus? All of the factors are relevant. If we remain unable to engage in systems thinking I fear the school is already doomed.

In looking for bright spots, I must comment on the ability of the mentor principal (who was the principal up until this year) to stay in inquiry and help me focus on the deep learning cycle. She has been an excellent resource and while she has her faults, her questioning techniques rival that of a good psychologist. LOL Without loaded questions she will not let you off the hook and take the easy road. She explores situations and models inquiry extremely well. In addition, she employs the ice-berg, and looks for underlying patterns in events and seeks to understand before diagnosing.

My personal goal is to stay in inquiry and facilitate a deeper understanding of our problems and try to help the principal focus on developing a shared vision for the school. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that ELCC Standard I discuss vision? That is where it all begins! Could it be coincidence that ELCC Standard 2 is promoting a positive school culture? I think NOT! To hear that a representative of the Principals’ Academy was told to “forget those standards” is unnerving. Promoting the success of all students is our goal and giving every child a special education! As a result identifying the root causes for lack of learning of each student will drive our instruction and interventions. Data, like failing tests or attendance rates, only raises questions, it is up to the team to uncover and delve into the deeper learning cycle to unlock the key to individual student success. As Senge stated, “learning organizations are places where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.” That is a place I want to work and the environment that every learner (both children and adults) deserve.

My, my. Great analysis and synthesis. 8/5