Untitled Document

TOPIC .0: AAdministering the Schools@

Lesson Element .1: ASupport From Principals@

Dr. Allen Believes That the Number One Person in the School Is the Principal.

The principal makes more of a difference in a school than anyone else.

The principal creates unity and high morale.
Urges teachers forward, and creates the environment for good education.
The principal is the key instructional leader.

The principal also provides support.

Supports the parents, kids, and teachers.
Support is both providing resources and emotional support.
If teachers feel that the principal is behind them, they will be willing to do many things. They will try things with confidence.
If teachers feel that the principal isn=t behind them, they will draw into their shells and keep their heads down. They will do only the minimum required.

The support or non-support of the principal makes a huge difference in how well the school works.

Principals Are Responsible for the Tone of the School.

There are both uptight and relaxed atmosphere type schools.

Dr. Allen favors the relaxed atmosphere type.

The relaxed style makes people feel comfortable, but still holds them accountable.

Principals have different styles of leadership.

Some are primarily concerned with details. Others are not.

There is lots of room for individual style for both teachers and principals. No one particular style is absolutely the best.

We don=t have to take a cookie cutter approach to style.
You can still make people comfortable and relaxed in whatever style is chosen.

The job of the teacher is to adapt to the style of the principal.

If the principal is a detail oriented person, provide them with the details in advance.
If they have a loose, hands-off style, go with the flow.

Lesson Element .2: AReward Systems@

The Reward System Devised by the Principal Makes a Huge Difference.

What are you rewarded for?

Keeping a quiet class, or for maintaining an exciting class?
Are you rewarded for organizing extracurricular activities?
Are you rewarded for having the highest test scores in town?

The principal creates the reward system.

The principal decides what classes you can teach.
The principal can reduce the size of the classes you teach.
The principal can provide extra budget resources for materials.

Rewards make people feel that they are supported.

People who feel supported and rewarded are more willing to undertake difficult tasks.

The results of tasks are always better when people feel supported and empowered.

Principals Indemnify Risk.

Who takes the risk when something new is attempted?

Ideally, the principal assumes the responsibility for the action.

Who takes the credit when something works correctly?

Ideally, the person who did the action.
In a poor leadership situation, the principal might attempt to take all the credit, but this is self-destructive. It breeds mistrust and resentment.

Not all teachers have the tolerance for high risk situations.

Some will go ahead and try new things even if it is risky. Others won=t do so.

The principal should indemnify teachers for taking risks.

The principal should be the one to run interference with upset parents.

They should support the teacher, not throw the teacher to the wolves if something new is tried and fails.

Good principals indemnify the risks.

They back their teachers.
If the teacher has done something stupid, they will still back the teacher, but at the same time provide the teacher with guidance so that it will not happen again.

The principal should assume responsibility for everything that happens in school.

Teachers should be responsible to the principal.

They should work as a team, not adversaries.

Lesson Element .3: AAdvantages of Hallmarks@

Schools with Hallmarks Do Better than Schools Without Hallmarks.

Example: DOD Elementary School in Berlin.

School mascot was a stuffed black panther named Tarri.

Occupied a huge pedestal in the foyer of the school.
Kids would go by and pat the mascot on the head.
The kids enjoyed Tarri and eventually, everything done in the school was done in the name of Tarri.
The memo paper had a pawprint on it. Tarri would be the source of the memo.
Tarri did all sorts of interesting things and kids loved Tarri.

Tarri made a difference in academics.

People who are happy do better. They are interested, engaged, and motivated to learn easier.

Hallmarks are a part of an effective school environment.

Hallmarks can make school something special.

Hallmarks Make Things Special.

This is what major sports team mascots are all about.

In sports, the colors that you choose and the logos that you create, have a huge impact on sale of related team merchandise.

Two teams are champions in this regard:

The Chicago Bulls and the San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks sell more emblematic items than does the Dallas Cowboys!

In some cases, the hallmarked merchandise is actually more popular than the team.

People like hallmarked things.

Principals Must Be Perceived as Fair.

The issue of fairness is a major factor in how people relate to each other.

More important than fairness is the image of fairness.
If people perceive you as fair, they will cut you a lot of slack.

If people think a principal is not trying to be fair, even when they make the right decision, it will not feel right. Parents know this feeling all too well.

As a principal, being perceived as fair is an extremely important factor.

Even if you don=t succeed, you may well be accepted by the teachers and community.
Justice can=t be capricious. It will destroy credibility with all.

Teachers also must project the image of fairness. This creates trust in you as a person. Trust from both student and administration alike.

Lesson Element .4: ASchool Boards@

The School Board has the Legal Responsibility For the School.

The school board has the fiscal responsibility for the school. Not the principal, not the teachers, not the Federal Government, not the state DOE.

As the school board is the legal responsible entity, they think they have more power than they actually have.
The public also thinks they have more power than they actually have.

In reality, that power is hemmed in so much by tradition and state regulations that they don=t have as much power as they think they have.

The school board also has the responsibility for developing broad educational policy.

They are the ones who decide what should be taught, when, and where.
They decide how much leeway individual school buildings are going to have.

Some school boards are centralized in authority and give lots of leeway to individual schools.

Such decisions come about as the result of the school board policies.

In Dr. Allen=s opinion, the most important thing that the school board does is to select the superintendent to execute their policy.

Finding the right superintendent is a critical step in making the whole system work effectively.
The superintendent should help to shape the policy. They should have influence with the school board.
The school board shouldn=t be a rubber stamp, but should take the advice of the superintendent seriously.

Superintendents of schools are as influential on the day-to-day education of the kids as the principal. But, the superintendent selects the principals and that is one of his/her most important functions.

Lesson Element .5: ADepartments of Education@

The State Department of Education Has the Regulatory Authority Including Basic Teacher Certification.

Dr. Allen isn=t a big fan of the DOEs because they way they are currently operated.

They tend to get in the way more than they tend to facilitate things.

They are doing what is expected of them, but the expectation is wrong.

Example of a wrong expectation: Certification of Teachers.

State legislatures have mandated stricter certification standards.
Teachers are endorsed only in a specific area.

Yet many teachers can successfully teach other areas than just their endorsed one.

Dr. Allen is certified to teach any subject to 7-12 grade level students in California.
However, he is only certified to teach Social Studies and Math in Virginia.
Yet he has successfully taught Freshman English at ODU, even though the only English class he ever personally had was Freshman English at Stanford.

He was successful because he knew how to use the information he had, and how to get the information he needed.

Knowing how to get information when needed is a very important skill.

There are many teachers who do not hold endorsement in specific areas that are better qualified to teach those subjects than many other teachers who do hold endorsement in those areas.

We are wasting talent by restricting good teachers from teaching subjects other than those for which they are specifically endorsed.

Dr. Allen=s Recommendation on Teacher Certification.

Evaluate all the schools in Virginia and determine the top third of the schools in terms of getting the job done effectively.

As a reward for doing such a good job, let those schools any teachers they want, regardless of specific endorsements.

They are not going to select teachers who do a bad job. The want to maintain that status of being able to select what they consider are the best teachers.

Lesson Element .6: AFederal Government@

Dr. Allen Believes That the Federal Government Should Have a Much Bigger Role in Education Than it Currently Plays.

If the Federal Government has the right kind of role, then we would have more local control.

One of the primary parts of that role would be setting a national curriculum.

We currently have an invisible national curriculum.

If we had a viable national curriculum, then we could have clear cut objectives and goals.

The current role of the Federal Government is limited to special program support.

Ex: The special education classes and regulations concerning the handicapped.

The Federal Government Is Currently Trying to Establish Voluntary Standards. These Standards Are Insufficient and a Sham.

Dr. Allen thinks that the standards should be mandatory, not voluntary.

Part of his objection is the manner in which the government is failing to confront the issue by calling the standards voluntary.

Dr. Allen believes that the Federal Government really want=s to have required standards, but is trying to slip them by the people by calling them voluntary.
This is akin to trying to sneak up on the people.

Previous experience with Avoluntary@ requirements points out the dangers of such a policy.

The SAT and ACT exams originally started out and technically, are still voluntary.
They are administered not by the Federal Government, but by a private company out of Princeton, New Jersey.
However, trying getting into a college without taking the SAT. You won=t.

Requirements labeled as Avoluntary,@ often become defacto mandatory requirements.

The fact that something is theoretically voluntary doesn=t mean that when it gets in place that it will be voluntary.

Dr. Allen thinks that using such a strategy is wrong. He believes that we need to have the issue out in the open and address it publicly, not slip the requirements in through the backdoor.

The Primary Reason That the Issues Are Not Directly Confronted Is Politics.

One of the key players in making this happen is the school superintendent.

Besides selecting good principals, one of the key jobs of the superintendent is that of public liaison.

They need to educate the public about the issues.

However, they must also be politicians.

Another role of the superintendent is that of enforcing regulatory compliance.

Some take this so seriously that the never dare to make a mistake in compliance.
Others are willing to make some mistakes, and when they are discovered, correct the mistakes.
They are looser in terms of responding to regulatory compliance.

There is a huge difference between whether the superintendents set the mood of being broad or narrow.

However, although state waivers for compliance to regulations are available, many superintendents are afraid of criticism that they are being irresponsible.

Dr. Allen doesn=t want them to be irresponsible, just a little more venturesome.

Bottom Line: We Are the Only Nation in the World That Doesn=t Have National Standards and We Pay a Heavy Price for It.

Lesson Element .7: ASupport Administrators@

Support Administrators Are a Whole Other Category of Administrators. They Are There to Help People like Logistics Support.

The handle things like planning bus schedules, and running the purchasing departments of large school districts.

Such support is necessary, but it should have limits.

Dr. Allen thinks that by and large, these people are overpaid and overqualified.

Too Much Support Leads to Fewer Teachers.

There is a tradition that administrators at one time in their career were actually teachers.

However, as they get promoted, they are away from the kids. This makes the problem with getting lots of teachers in the classroom worse.

We are caught in a destructive cycle.

Since we don=t pay our teachers very much, they tend not to be up to date, so you need to hire people to help them.
However, the more people you hire at large salaries, the less money you have for teachers salaries. This means the teachers become even weaker, and then you have to hire more people to help them. It goes on and on.

Eventually you develop a gigantic administrative staff structure to support fewer and fewer teachers.

Dr. Allen Thinks That One of the Reasons This Occurs Is Because of the Size of the School Districts. He Favors Much Smaller Districts.

Ex: Norfolk Public School System is one gigantic district.

They have a tremendously sized support staff.

Dr. Allen would not have a gigantic Norfolk School District.

He would have five smaller districts, consisting of a high school and it=s feeder schools.

This would truly make the districts under local control.

These districts would be supported by a central Southern Tidewater Support Services Unit, which would ensure that the schools get what they need in terms of special services.

However, the schools would hire these services as they felt they needed them, rather than having them in place for all schools, all of the time.

In New York this practice of support all the time, whether needed or not, has been carried to extremes. There is an administrator for every three teachers.

Bottom Line: Dr. Allen Thinks That We Need Smaller School Districts and Fewer Support Staff.

Lesson Element .8: AResponsibility of Teachers@

The Teacher=s Responsibility for Dealing With School Administrations.

Whether you like the administrators or not, you have a responsibility to be predictable.

The administrators should be able to count on you to do what they think you should do.
The teachers shouldn=t be in the habit of springing surprises on the administrators.

Teachers have the responsibility to be responsible employees.

Teachers should not subvert the school board, school administration, or the parents.

If you can=t accept the rules and policies, leave. Teach somewhere else that is more in tune with your own personal philosophy on the issues.

Parents should have more say in the schools, and the parents need to have confidence that the schools are going to do predictably what the parents want.
Likewise, the school needs to have confidence that the teachers will be predictable,, responsible, and timely.
Timely is very important. If you aren=t timely, then you will earn a reputation of being unreliable.
Get things in on time. Turn things in fully, and correctly completed.

A reputation as a person that can be counted upon is very valuable.

Pay attention to the evaluations.

Evaluation is an important part of the whole process. It lets you know to what degree you are meeting the employer=s expectations.

You must meet the expectations of your administrator.

If you meet the expectations, school can be fun. If you don=t, it can be miserable for both you and the administrators.

Know the expectations of the administrators.

If they want all the i=s dotted and t=s crossed, do so.
If they want you to be on the cutting edge, be on the cutting edge.

Part of the teacher=s job is to meet administrative expectations.

There is no way you can justify not meeting the expectations of the school districts and the administrators you=re serving.

Your job is to fit in.

You can challenge the way the system does business and develop new things if you do so in an acceptable manner. Fitting in doesn=t necessarily preclude effecting change.

Ex: Dr. Allen was Dean at UMASS.
He abolished grades.
Dr. Allen thinks that grades because they get in the way of teaching.
However, when he came to ODU, he had to give grades.
He gives them, and attempts to give the best grades possible under the rules.
In the meantime, he attempts to work within the system to effect a grading policy change.
He hasn=t given up his belief by fitting in. He has accepted his responsibility to be a good employee, while trying to effect change in an acceptable manner.

Communication Is a Major Factor in Effecting Change.

There is never enough communication, because communication isn=t perfect.

Teachers can=t communicate perfectly, nor can administrators.

Mis-communication can lead to serious difficulties.

Ex: Half of all marriages fail, primarily from mis-communication.
It=s one thing to get on someone=s nerves because they are doing something you don=t like, but it=s another thing entirely because you don=t know what they are doing, or if they don=t know what you are doing.

Communication must be worked at, it=s not an automatic thing.

Teacher=s Need to Be Team Players.

People must have confidence in you. They must believe that you are willing to work as a part of the larger group. The larger group makes things happen.

Schools work better if teachers, parents, kids, and administrators are all on the same team.

All these factions must feel like they are part of a team. They must also act as part of the team or difficulties arise.
Team spirit may sound corny, but it does make a big difference.

Team spirit includes methods such as curriculum development and the 2+2 program.

If you an your teaching colleagues don=t develop your own curriculum, then more staff support people will have to be hired to do it for you.
Eventually, you have the situation where they tell you what to teach, when to teach it, and how to teach it.
A better method is to work together as a team to develop a viable and timely curriculum.

Teachers Need to Figure out How to Constructively Challenge the System.

Fitting in responsibly doesn=t mean becoming a mindless robot responding to orders.

You need to be alert to figuring out what is the acceptable way to challenge something.

It=s not just what you say, it=s when you say it, how you say it, and who you say it to that makes constructive challenge successful.

Lesson Element .9: AResponsibility of Community@

The School=s Responsibility to the Community Is Very Important.

There is a big problem when the community feels that the schools are liberal and the community is conservative.

Schools are typically viewed as being more liberal than the communities they serve.

Dr. Allen thinks that view is absolutely wrong.

Ideally, the school should reflect as accurately as possible the views of the community.

However, those community values extend over a wide range.
The school has a responsibility to reflect all those values.

Any parent who sends their kid to school should have the confidence that the values of their kids are going to be respected as much as the values of the other kids.

The School Has No Right and No Place to Be Subversive.

Ex: Dr. Allen once saw a course in a college catalog entitled AHow to teach controversial issues so nobody notices.@

This is immoral. Absolutely wrong.
Schools shouldn=t sneak up on parents and the community.

There will be disagreements and competing recommendations. However these issues need to be out in the open, and resolved head on, not under the table.

Everybody should know how the school is dealing with the issues and why.

Schools Must Be Seen as Servants of the Community.

If a teacher=s personal values are such that they cannot go along with the values of the community, then they should leave and teach elsewhere.

There are lots of different values in the community, and often the values of the community will be different from those of the teacher.

The teacher=s responsibility is to do the very best job in reflecting the community values.

The teacher is entitled to their own personal values, and is also entitled to tell the students what those values are. However, the teacher=s job is to also support the values of the community in their teaching method and curriculum.

The Community Needs Feedback.

The community needs to both receive and give feedback.

Unfortunately, communities need to do a better job of telling schools what to do.

Communities often can=t agree about what they expect of schools and change their minds without notice.

Ex: On one hand the community wants to the school to be concerned with the whole child, and on the other hand, they want a return to back to the basics.
It becomes a matter of balance and perception of balance.

Schools have to be concerned about service to the community.

Again, communication is the key to building confidence by the public in their schools.

Schools Also Need to Be a Place of Future Orientation.

Schools should help the community anticipate what lies ahead.

Currently, neither schools or the communities are very good at this skill.

A successful teacher is one who is ahead of the curve and helps the kids of the community get ahead of the curve.

Schools should be places that are dealing with future concerns.