As I pursued the internet the other day I found a model of school I could get behind. Green Dot Public Schools http://www.greendot.org – what amazed me was the model followed Six tenants that are simple, yet have big impact.
- Small, Safe, Personalized Schools – A place to know and be known. What a concept. Learning needs relationship and connection.
- High Expectations for All Students – All students should be prepared to be life long learners. All students should be prepared to pursue any direction they are passionate about.
- Local Control with Extensive Professional Development and Accountability – it is time to end the tyranny of the central office. Over the years of working in public education, it has amazed me the arrogance and entitlement of the central office. The drama of power plays and politics has no business in education and yet we have allowed those in position of finance, HR, Special programs to treat the buildings as bad children in need of rehab. Central office needs to be advocates and support for teachers and principals not the other way around. In fact we need to look at privilege – meaning special assignments to be building directed rather than those who wanted out of the building to be rewarded with higher salaries and “perceived” power. Cabinets in districts should be made up of building principals NOT central office department heads. School is about our future, not about adults needing to feel powerful.
- Parent Participation – We need parents as partners. It is not the job of education to pass judgment on parenting. It is our job to elicit and establish true partnerships that benefit our future – the students. And in truth we can learn from each other’s roles. For too long education has taken on the parenting role rather than defining the role of education that for our children.
- Maximize Funding to the Classroom – Big districts have been focused on keeping an old model running – funding a central office – rather than sending maximum dollars to the classroom. School dollars are for kids.. When did we forget that?
- Keep Schools Open Later – Attending to and providing what kids need as support for learning. It is about time we made our decisions on students needs rather than what works for kids.
The six tenants are simple yet have profound impact on what student’s experience. Is it time you moved in that direction in your school?
