“In Pursuit of Excellence”
In Pursuit of Excellence, is a fitting title for this post from a Tom Peters book. This is a book I was required to read before I started in my new position as a 4th-grade teacher at my new school back in 1999. My how we have devolved since then, but this excerpt from another blog post provides hope and a path back and yet also forward.
“Effective schools have strong principals who demand the freedom and flexibility to hire and fire, to set curriculum and school policy. Effective principals provide instructional leadership. They support teachers’ efforts to excel through training and mentoring. They find ways to help parents support their children’s academic achievement but demand that students take responsibility for their own education — regardless of the level of their parents’ involvement.
Effective schools employ teachers who support and mentor one another. Effective teachers concentrate on academic achievement. They recognize that all students need to master a set of basic reading, math, and English-language skills. They teach those skills first, and they consistently measure their students’ performance through standards-based testing.
Effective schools have a clearly defined mission, supported by specific measurable goals. That mission and those goals are communicated to staff, parents, and students, and everyone is expected to make a commitment to promote them.
Effective schools expect students to excel and maintain a culture of excellence.
Yes, it is harder to teach today. It is harder still to teach in schools with a preponderance of poor or minority students. Kids have changed. Parents have changed. Society has changed. Educators, however, cannot throw up their hands in defeat because they are no longer greeted each morning by students who are ready and eager to learn. Schools have to change too. Some already have.
We can’t “fix” society, but maybe — just maybe — we can improve society by fixing our schools.”
https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/starr_points/starr017.shtml