Who Would You Rather Work For?

One of my favorite courses is titled Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Learning. Toward the end of our first module we learned about Jan Carlzon, former head of Scandinavian Air Systems.

Jan Carlzon saw SAS through the oil crisis and helped the company reach record profits in a time of market stagnation. This interview gives a sense of his leadership philosophy and style.


Frank Borman addressed his workers on a Sunday evening 1983 as Easter Airlines faced a major crisis.


How many of our school leaders are like Jan and how many are like Frank? I know that in my short time I saw a lot more of Frank's style, from principals all the way up to the Mayor. I wonder what our schools might be like if we had leaders who sought to create buy-in from their teachers and other employees, empower them to make decisions, and "flatten the pyramid" as Carlzon did.

Academic Honesty in the Ed Reform Debate

It seems like I'll be writing a lot about Susan Moore Johnson this semester. Another reaction I had to my first class with her last Wednesday was to a simple, but well-worn statement she made.

"Teachers are the single most important school-based factor on student achievement as measured by standardized tests."

This sentence isn't particularly extraordinary, but I chose to highlight a few words that carry profound truths, often overlooked in our current conversation about education debate. I chose to emphasize them, because Susan Moore Johnson is someone who through her research and her associations could be considered pro-reform. And yet, as a professor she makes certain to make evidence-based claims in class. It's frustrating this honesty rarely carries over to the broader discourse on education reform.

Instead, what we're getting from both sides are abridgements and misinterpretations of the basic statement above, and many others. This isn't unique to the discussion of education reform obviously. Pundits and policymakers are always looking for the most effective way to make their argument, usually at the expense of nuance. However this dishonesty is having an impact that is both polarizing and counterproductive.

Take away those bold words and this is the statement we're left with: "Teachers are the single most important factor on student achievement." It's not just simplistic, it creates a false framework for fixing our schools. Instead of talking about all the factors that need to be addressed to improve educational equality - parenting, peer culture, community support, and yes, teachers - we've let the teachers become the sole focus of reform.

Admittedly, teachers are the "low hanging fruit" of reform. It's easier to "fix" teacher quality than poverty, which explains its appeal to reformers. As a teacher, the emphasis on the importance of teachers was empowering, in a way. Working in two schools that were sometimes frustrating work environments to put it mildly, I liked thinking I had control over what mattered most to my students' success. Other times though, the pressure to be great felt overwhelming. I'll admit I may have bought too heavily into the Superman myth, in the hopes I could close the achievement gap in a single year. But returning to the larger debate, the focus on teacher quality has allowed the debate to devolve into talk of "poverty deniers" and "status quo defenders". And those are the polite labels.

As I start my year in academia, the time to learn more about policy and reflect upon my own practice has been refreshing. Even more so, I appreciate that our discussion of American schools is bound by norms of honesty that seem missing in the larger debate.

Our Narrowing Focus on Teacher Quality

I'm only in my first full week of classes and I'm already fascinated by some of the coursework. One such class is Pursuing Teacher Quality, taught by Susan Moore Johnson. In preparation for our first class we were asked to read a number of documents that discuss the challenges of American education and their root causes, with a special focus on teachers. Our readings included A Nation at Risk and A Nation Prepared, two seminal reports from the 1980's, but they also included more recent reports from domestic and international policy groups.

I had two main reactions to these readings. The first was just a tremendous excitement to be reading (a lot!) about a topic that I found so interesting. This was exactly what I was looking forward to about my experience at Harvard, the chance to focus entirely on studying and learning about the issues that matter most to be.

The second reaction was one of demoralization. A Nation at Risk didn't provide much in the way of policy prescriptions, but it definitely nailed a lot of what was ailing American education 28 years ago, and sadly, still today.

This was a common thread as I read all of these documents. One the one hand, I felt it reassuring that there was some clarity identifying the myriad of factors affecting teacher quality: recruitment, retention, training, incentives, professional development, autonomy, opportunities for growth and advancement, school supports and structures, salary... On the other hand, I couldn't help feeling frustrated at the virtual lack of progress since these ideas first gained attention.

Here we are, three decades removed from A Nation at Risk, and the words haven't lost any of their relevance or urgency. We find ourselves mired in an economic recession. We are facing growing global competition, and there's a desperate need to move toward a knowledge-based economy. Meanwhile, our students are falling behind at an alarming rate, and seem increasingly unable to perform tasks that require critical thinking.

Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to have changed in response to these challenges is that policymakers have narrowed their focus. There is lip service paid to the need to revitalize our education schools, but little action. There's some discussion of how to better recruit and reward our teachers, but again, little action.

Almost all of the efforts by district, state, and to a certain extent, federal policymakers seems focused on accountability, without an iota of attention expended on the continuum that goes improving the quality of teachers in our classrooms. Some of these changes, like more holistic teacher evaluations, will improve the professionalism of teaching, but not unless we address other fundamental questions. How are we going to change our approach so that we're recruiting the most talented students in our schools, adequately training them, supporting them in the classroom, rewarding them for their efforts, and providing opportunities for growth and leadership?

These aren't new questions. They haven't changed in 30 years, but our approach is getting more confined when it needs to expand.

A Nation At Risk: 28 Years and Counting

Classes are just getting started, and I'm still getting a handle on the idea of my new job as a student. I'm looking forward to sharing some of my experiences and the connection to my old classroom. In the meantime, I wanted to share this quote from the introduction to A Nation at Risk, a report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, published in 1983:

If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.

I was struck by the bluntness of the language in the report. It's also disturbing to think that the challenge of education reform has been evident for three decades now and for all the urgency called for in this report, not much progress has been made. Looking forward to comparing this document with several others on the same topic.

Back to School: Learning to Put Down the Duckie

The last two days I went "course shopping". This is a time when practically all the professors give 40 minute explanations or previews of their courses so that students can make decisions about their schedule. As someone who thought I had my schedule all figured out at the beginning of the week this was exciting and frustrating at the same time, as I suddenly felt doubts about all the classes I wasn't taking. With only two semesters of coursework while I'm here, the stakes feel pretty high for each selection.

That said, the stress of figuring out which courses to take has been far outweighed by the excitement of getting to know my classmates and professors. I have been continually awestruck by the knowledge and experience my professors bring to the classroom. I am equally humbled by the breadth and depth of experience of my fellow students.

In the past few days I met Ron Ferguson, a man who literally wrote the book on closing the achievement gap; I listened to Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot speak, and literally got chills; I sat in on shopping sessions for about a dozen other professors who have in many ways shaped the direction and discourse on education in this country.

What also struck me in the midst of this exciting and overwhelming period is the need for me to stop and prepare to totally open my mind. During orientation's opening ceremony, one of the speakers, Joseph Blatt, mentioned the need for us to "put down the duckie." By this he meant the need for us to shed our biases, our hang-ups and preconceived notions, and open ourselves up to the rich discussions of the year ahead.

Over the past year I have felt pressured to create an ad hoc ideology. Since the publishing of my op-ed in the NY Post, I felt pressured to take stances, sometimes based more on gut reactions to the attacks and assumptions of others, rather than a thorough, well-researched process. This is not a process that leads to the thoughtful formation of lasting, meaningful beliefs.

I am excited then to take a deep breath and "put down the duckie" as I prepare for the year ahead. I am putting down my Educators 4 Excellence duckie. I am putting down my teacher duckie. I am shedding as much as I can about what I think I know for certain, in order to really learn from my professors and peers about the issues that really matter to me. This isn't to say I won't use my experiences to act as a lens to aid my studies, but I am excited to approach my studies with a fresh perspective in order to come to an understanding about what I truly believe.