Over the summer I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a course at the Principals’ Training Center for International School Leadership (PTC), and I have to say, it was the most valuable–and intensely demanding–professional development I have received in 18 years as an educator. The course title was “Creating and Organizing an Effective School,” and the training was expertly honed to the topic by presenters/facilitators Bambi Betts and Julie Ryan. I gained a multitude of insights, but I’d like to direct my comments to the ones that stood out the most to me.
Teacher/teaching quality is, by far, the most accurate indicator of a school’s success.
As our pre-reading for the course, the PTC required us to read an accessible and concise book titled, “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.” The central thesis is that there is no substitute for a good classroom teacher. The authors deeply investigated school systems around the world and came to the clear conclusion that all of the best-performing school districts place great emphasis on hiring and training the best teaching candidates. Teachers in those systems were offered good but not necessarily great packages. However, systems invested considerable time and money into training their teachers and providing a supportive, nurturing environment for them.
While this is not revelatory, it does provide insights into why some schools are “better” than others. In my experience, schools which funnel a lot of money into the external and/or superficial and don’t recognize the importance of placing top teachers first are destined to prolong their progress, if they progress at all.
Student learning is the focal point of all we do.
Considerable time at the PTC was devoted to the importance of student learning. Again, this is nothing new, but how often do we as educators and administrators get lost in minutiae to the detriment of learning? Stated another way, I, as an administrator, should not make many, if any, decisions before asking myself, “How is this going to impact student learning?”
To drive home this point, our first day we were introduced to “Maria,” a fictitious student seated in a chair in the center of our meeting room. We were admonished to keep Maria in mind in all of our activities that week. While this was a simple ploy, it was simply effective in keeping us focused on what and who really matter.
Mission, vision, and principles come first.
As we require a compass to find our way through challenging environments, so we need core principles to keep us on track when thousands of voices are calling for our attention. Our course strongly emphasized that effective schools have a clear mission and philosophy in which all major stakeholders have a deep understanding and investment. When we see ourselves diverting from the path, our mission, vision and principles provide us with an anchor which, if referred to often, will keep us from being tossed off course by the storms around us.
The right people need to be doing the right things.
How often do schools organize themselves around subject specific or grade level departments just because that’s how it’s always done? We discussed in depth how that our most talented people need to be leading our curricular, activities, and other groups within the school. These people may or may not be in the same department or grade level as the people on their committees or in their groups. Let your best people shine and bring other colleagues up with them.
Teachers should not be working in a vacuum,
Collaboration is an essential component and skill of effective schools and today’s workplace as a whole. Quite simply, we learn more when we collaborate, and we need to model this collaboration for our students. If we aren’t sold on the collaboration, our students won’t be, either.
Teachers need to be models.
How many times have you been to a meeting at school and thought, “Why does my leader tell me to teach one way, and conducts the meeting in the exact opposite way? Shouldn’t I model my leader in the classroom?” One thing I loved about my 7-day course at the PTC is that the presenters practice what they preach. They were not dominating course time; rather we were stimulated into discussion and/or action and then directed to get to it while they facilitated closely. In short, we should practice what we preach and preach correct principles based on the latest research.
While I learned an incredible amount during my seven days, teacher quality, student learning, the importance of mission, properly organizing people, collaborating, and modeling were the learnings that have been in the forefront of my mind since the conclusion of the course. Much of what I’m doing in this new school year is a result of the summer training I received, and I have every intention of attending PTC courses this school year and into the future.
Over the summer I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a course at the Principals’ Training Center for International School Leadership (PTC), and I have to say, it was the most valuable–and intensely demanding–professional development I have received in 18 years as an educator. The course title was “Creating and Administering an Effective School,” and the training was expertly honed to the topic by presenters/facilitators Bambi Betts and Julie Ryan. I gained a multitude of insights, but I’d like to direct my comments to the ones that stood out the most to me.
Teacher/teaching quality is, by far, the most accurate indicator of a school’s success.
As our pre-reading for the course, the PTC required us to read an accessible and concise book titled, “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.” The central thesis is that there is no substitute for a good classroom teacher. The authors deeply investigated school systems around the world and came to the clear conclusion that all of the best-performing school districts place great emphasis on hiring and training the best teaching candidates. Teachers in those systems were offered good but not necessarily great packages. However, systems invested considerable time and money into training their teachers and providing a supportive, nurturing environment for them.
While this is not revelatory, it does provide insights into why some schools are “better” than others. In my experience, schools which funnel a lot of money into the external and/or superficial and don’t recognize the importance of placing top teachers first are destined to prolong their progress, if they progress at all.
Student learning is the focal point of all we do.
Considerable time at the PTC was devoted to the importance of student learning. Again, this is nothing new, but how often do we as educators and administrators get lost in minutiae to the detriment of learning? Stated another way, I, as an administrator, should not make many, if any, decisions before asking myself, “How is this going to impact student learning?”
To drive home this point, our first day we were introduced to “Maria,” a fictitious student seated in a chair in the center of our meeting room. We were admonished to keep Maria in mind in all of our activities that week. While this was a simple ploy, it was simply effective in keeping us focused on what and who really matter.
Mission, vision, and principles come first.
As we require a compass to find our way through challenging environments, so we need core principles to keep us on track when thousands of voices are calling for our attention. Our course strongly emphasized that effective schools have a clear mission and philosophy in which all major stakeholders have a deep understanding and investment. When we see ourselves diverting from the path, our mission, vision and principles provide us with an anchor which, if referred to often, will keep us from being tossed off course by the storms around us.
The right people need to be doing the right things.
How often do schools organize themselves around subject specific or grade level departments just because that’s how it’s always done? We discussed in depth how that our most talented people need to be leading our curricular, activities, and other groups within the school. These people may or may not be in the same department or grade level as the people on their committees or in their groups. Let your best people shine and bring other colleagues up with them.
Teachers should not be working in a vacuum.
Collaboration is an essential component and skill of effective schools and today’s workplace as a whole. Quite simply, we learn more when we collaborate, and we need to model this collaboration for our students. If we aren’t sold on the collaboration, our students won’t be, either.
Teachers need to be models.
How many times have you been to a meeting at school and thought, “Why does my leader tell me to teach one way, and conducts the meeting in the exact opposite way? Shouldn’t I model my leader in the classroom?” One thing I loved about my 7-day course at the PTC is that the presenters practice what they preach. They were not dominating course time; rather we were stimulated into discussion and/or action and then directed to get to it while they facilitated closely. In short, we should practice what we preach and preach correct principles based on the latest research.
While I learned an incredible amount during my seven days, teacher quality, student learning, the importance of mission, properly organizing people, collaborating, and modeling were the learnings that have been in the forefront of my mind since the conclusion of the course. Much of what I’m doing in this new school year is a result of the summer training I received, and I have every intention of attending PTC courses this school year and into the future.
