Another Year: A Quiet School Opening Awaiting a Consequential Election

No matter the reading or math program or curriculum, toxic school cultures inhibit effective school practice, if the message from leadership is “crack the whip,” the leadership has failed miserably

The following post originally appeared on Peter’s blog Ed in the Apple

The Tuesday after Labor Day, teachers, shuffling into schools across the city.

A combination of anxiety, waking up in the middle the night as the “day” approaches and a relief, the “day” arrives. In my school, a high school, bagels, cream cheese and coffee, complements of the Parents Association. A few shrieks of joy as a teacher displays her engagement ring, for others only a few weeks between teaching summer school and day one. A teacher arriving directly from the airport after spending the summer hosteling around Europe.

The principal’s opening remarks, a welcome, hopefully upbeat and the rest of the day meeting with colleagues and preparing classroom(s) for the arrival of the children. School leaders can strive to create and maintain reflective and collaborative school cultures, foster toxic cultures or create toxic and oppositional cultures. School cultures are at the core of school performance, and, the tone is set on day one.

During intermission at a show someone clearly knew me, suddenly, yes, she was a teacher in one of the schools in my district, and, well beyond retirement age.

“You still teaching?”

“Yes, I Iove teaching, can’t wait to get to school, I’ve been teaching pre-k for decades.”

“How’s the principal?”

(sigh) “They come and go, the last one didn’t last too long …. he called me into his office and told me he was moving me to First Grade, told him I knew nothing about first grade, it would be a disservice to the kids, told me the decision was final. A few days later called me he started screaming at me, ‘Stop calling parents, I must have gotten fifty phone calls,’ I demurely answered, ‘I only called one parent,’ He didn’t last too long.”

The teachers and the parents had strong bonds as did the staff, a powerful school culture.

Just as culture is critical to understanding the dynamics behind any thriving community, organization, or business, the daily realities and deep structure of school life hold the key to educational success. Reforms that strive for educational excellence are likely to fail unless they are meaningfully linked to the school’s unique culture. In Shaping School Culture, [the authors aver} … leaders can harness the power of school culture to build a lively, cooperative spirit and a sense of school identity (or be overwhelmed by the power of school cultures).

No matter the reading or math program, the curriculum, toxic school cultures inhibit effective school practice, if the message from leadership is  “crack the whip,” the leadership has failed miserably.  The current Department of Education leadership understands the importance of supporting school cultures, moving the leadership at the school level is the challenge.

Charlotte Danielson, yes, the Frameworks author has another book, Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations Danielson acknowledges the conflict between the principal’s role as rating officer and as educational leader. 

Professional conversations-between teachers and supervisors and among teaching colleagues- in a school will occur within the context of the school’s organizational structure. In that structure the principal is the designed leader of the school; teachers work, to at least some extent, under the direction of the principal. And yet, teachers, not less than administrators, are professionals. They have engaged in professional training and preparation. They have acquired considerable expertise, both about the subjects they teach and how best to teach those subjects to students. There is, then, an inevitable tension between the professionalism of teachers and the authority of administrators; resolving that tension is a complex task. That is, just because some individuals, notably principals, hold greater power in the school’s structure than do teachers, it is not the case that professional conversations among teachers and administrators cannot be collegial. They must be both collegial and professionally rewarding.

Talk About Teaching! is a workbook, a guide for school leaders on navigating the conflict, must teachers always nod and accept supervisory comment or can school leaders engage in an open dialogue and exchange ideas with teachers, without fearing the wrath of  school leaders? 

Peer observation is probably more fruitful than the classic supervisory observation, is the primary function of supervisory observation rating a teacher or improving instruction? Danielson explores these questions, a good read.

A school district leader I worked with ran a faculty conference in every school early in the school, he didn’t preach, he engaged with the staff, he asked questions: what are the obstacles to improving outcomes?  How can we, yes, we, remove the obstacles?  A school wide “talk about teaching.”  Once a month he hosted what he called a “think tank,’ a teacher from each school, meeting after school (paid per session), discussed an article dealing with what he considered important, or, controversial, and, hopefully continue the discussion back in their school. 

Since he wasn’t following the “script” his efforts to create a district culture died when he moved on.

The Affinity District structure was an attempt to create strong school and network cultures, unfortunately terminated by de Blasio, Norm Fruchter, at the NYU Metro Center wrote a superb series of posts exploring the Affinity District, read here.

As a UFT rep I frequently dropped by two or three schools in a day, teachers always had questions, or, comments. I kept my Army field jacket in my car, in chillier weather to throw on the walk from car to school. I was standing in the lobby of ER Murrow High School and Saul Bruckner, the principal, glancing at my khaki field jacket, asked me, 

“Where’s the revolution?”

I responded, “All around you.”

and Bruckner replied, “I hope so …”

Ideally schools should be the hub of talking about practice.

This year, a quiet school opening, with an election looming that may determine the future of public education.