Exceptional Children/Special Education

"We are altogether too easily deceived by the time-worn argument that the gifted student, 'the genius' perhaps, will 'get along somehow without much teaching. The fact is, the gifted... and the brilliant... are the ones who need the closest attention of the skilful mechanic."

– W. Franklin Jones, Ph. D., in An Experimental-Critical Study of the Problem of Grading and Promotion (1912)

...still true, even a century later...

Exceptional Education, also known as Exceptional Student Education (ESE), usually refers to both the education of gifted/talented children and children with physical or mental disabilities. These programs are funded and supported outside the normal class framework: elementary schools dedicate separate classes, wings, and schools (such as magnet schools and Special Education Facilities catering to specific disabilities).

Coincidentally, the children with physical or mental disabilities are also the struggling learners.  School systems focus on the needs of the dis-abled learner, so a vast majority of the physical and financial resources are dedicated to supplanting teaching and learning for those students in their quest for standards mastery.  What's happening with the students who need enrichment to move from mastery to the exemplary level along the learning continuum?  These students' learning need is overlooked; no one seems to think that "exemplary" matters if mastery is the goal.

Parents across our nation would storm our schools if they thought for a moment that the needs of their disabled students weren't being met.  I challenge the parents to advocate for their talented children's needs too.

Group Dynamics

This is the first time in American history that we have had four different generations working side-by-side in the workplace.  To begin to understand how individuals in different generations act and react, one must first start with understanding oneself. (I'm on the fence of two generations; can you guess which ones?)



Now, consider is the individual and his or her underlying values, or personal and lifestyle characteristics, which seem to correspond with each generation, as shown in the following table.



Understanding personal and lifestyle characteristics about individuals makes it easier to look at workplace characteristics and how they manifest themselves in the workplace (see below).

A local system is recognizing the need for Administrators to identify, recognize, and understand the dynamics of how the four generations can work productively in its schools and buildings.  The professional learning course, Four Generations in the Workplace, provides generalities regarding the traits of each generation and offers tips and strategies for leading each group.

 

References for this blog include:

Karp, Hank; Fuller, Connie; Sirias, Danilo. Bridging the Boomer Xer Gap: Creating
Authentic Teams for High Performance at Work. Palo Alto, Calif.: Davies-Black Publishing, 2002.

Kersten, Denise. “Today’s Generations Face New Communications Gap,” USA Today, November 15, 2002.

Lancaster, Lynne C.; Stillman, David. When Generations Collide: Who They Are, Why They Clash, How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2002.

Sago, Brad. “Uncommon Threads: Mending the Generation Gap at Work,” Executive Update, July 2000.

Walston, Sandra Ford. Distinguishing Communication Approaches Across Generations, 1999 (online publication), http://www.walstoncourage.com/pages/articles/generation.htm.

Zemke, Ron; Raines, Claire; Filipczak, Bob. Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters in Your Workplace. New York

Communication

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

What you put forth orally or in writing represents who you are to the audience.  Can you spell, or pronounce words correctly?  Was your thought clearly communicated?  Were your thoughts cohesively conveyed, or did the audience walk away with more questions than answers?  Did your tone and word choice alienate, offend, endear, or empower your audience? Will your communication haunt you in future years by way of potential litigation and possibly jeopardize your career?   Was your mission accomplished through your communication?  HOW DO YOU REALLY KNOW?

So many questions arise when you consider the oral and written communication skills of the school leader.  I was in a meeting recently, and the legal team for the school system advised all administrators to refrain from communicating certain issues in writing, and especially via email.  While we aware of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) that protects the privacy of student education records, we were also reminded certain details of our state's Open Records Act (OPA). See Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4, section 70(b) of the Georgia Annotated Code (Ga. Code Ann.).  In fact, certain emails had been requested regarding the present redistricting proposal via the Open Records Act.

Globalization and Diversity

With the world becoming more mobile and diverse, diversity has taken on a new significance in the culture of education.  We needed to broaden our understanding of the relationship of culture and diversity with a global perspective, because our students are representing countries, continents, languages, and understandings beyond our own limited experiences.
A perfect example of bridging the gap between the diversity within a school community is capitalizing on opportunities to acknowledge and celebrate the differences.  Such themes as "Multicultural Fair", "Holidays Around the World", "Where in the World..." and "Foods Around the World" embrace the community constituency and reciprocally make them feel welcome in the school.

As the school leader, I would consider engaging the faculty and staff in professional learning such as TESA (Teacher Expectation Student Achievement), which is designed to modify the way teachers interact with students through heightened awareness of how perceptions affect their expectations. Results of classroom research shows that use of TESA interactions improves student academic performance, gender and diversity awareness, attendance, classroom climate and reduces student discipline problems.  As an educator, I vividly recall teaching in a school where our student population represented five continents; our faculty and staff included visiting international faculty, translators for two different languages, and non-English speaking custodians; our school documents were translated into four different languages to accomodate the student and parent population. The mandatory year-long TESA training at the onset of a new school year helped each of us improve our interactions with our students, their families, and also with our colleagues.  My classroom practice broadened to acknowledge the diversity of my learners; I even acknowledged and learned new mathematics problem-solving strategies from some students who "learned it another way" in their native countries! The overall outcomes of the TESA training at that school were aligned with what the research shows.

When a school, its leaders, and even the school system itself removes the prospect of student diversity as a hindrance to student achievement, the potential for true learning is unleashed and students are allowed to flourish in their demonstrations of standards mastery.  In the end, isn't this the goal?

One of my favorite books, A World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman just may broaden your viewpoint on globalization and diversity.  Read most of it FREE OF CHARGE by clicking on the following link:  http://books.google.com/books?id=oSsIfoDQHhgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+world+is+flat&hl=en&ei=W_9cTanKEoqltwezpsCwCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
The world is flat indeed!

Managing and Leading

A dearth of highly qualified principal candidates has been reported by school districts across the nation. In some parts of the country nearly sixty percent of principals will retire, resign, or otherwise leave their positions during the next five years (Peterson, 2002). 

Despite the principal shortage, educational administration programs are graduating an increasing number of certified school leaders. Unfortunately, the processes and standards by which many principal preparation programs traditionally screen, select, and graduate candidates are often ill-de­fined, irregularly applied, and lacking in rigor. As a result, many aspiring admin­istrators are too easily admitted into and passed through the system on the basis of their performance on academic coursework rather than on a comprehensive assessment of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to successfully lead schools (NPBEA, 2001). Although these aspiring administrators are certified, they may not be equipped for the shifting role of the principal from manager to effective instructional leader. As a result, an increasing number of districts are creating intense support systems for principals to build the skills they need to effectively lead schools.  In fact, the emer­gence of district owned and operated programs has become an increasingly attractive way of supplying the administrative pipeline with qualified candidates.

The research project, “School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals”, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and produced by the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute in conjunction with The Finance Project, examines eight highly developed pre- and in-service program models that address key issues in developing strong leaders. To read it in its entirety, go to http://www.srnleads.org/data/pdfs/sls/sls_rr.pdf.

If you don't have the time to read this project, download it and peruse through later.  In the meantime, watch the following video where The Wallace Foundation President M. Christine DeVita talks about key lessons learned in educational leadership at Wallace's national education conference in Washington, D.C.

Enjoy!

Peterson, K. D. (2002). The professional development of principals: Innovations and opportunities.Educational Administration Quarterly. 38(2), 213-232.

Peterson, K. D. (2002). The professional development of principals: Innovations and opportunities. In M. D. Young (Ed.),

Ensuring the university’s capacity to prepare learning-focused leadership. Columbia, MO: National Commission for the Advancement of Educational Leadership Preparation.

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2001). Recognizing and encouraging exemplary leadership in America’s schools: A proposal to establish a system of advanced certification for administrators. Washington, DC.

Current Issues/Problems in Administration

Educational publications and reports suggest that the single most significant contributing factor to dilemmas and problems in school administration stems from lack of leadership.  School administration officials are usually former teachers or principals who have worked hard to qualify for their positions and have many years of experience. But experience does not necessarily qualify one to be a leader. 

Taking into account that the school administrators are prepared, highly qualified, and highly capable of fulfilling the role as Principal, Assistant Principal, or any other school administrator role, public school administrators have three recurring issues and dilemmas beyond their immediate control: budget, annual measurable outcomes (AMOs), staffing and compensation.

·         Budget:  Schools are closing and consolidating due to low enrollment, but how will that change impact the local administration teams?  Also due to low student enrollment and budgetary constraints, school systems are opting to follow the suggested administrator ratio guidelines and thereby eliminate administrative positions.  Additionally, school systems are opting to offer a financial incentive to encourage early retirement of its seasoned employees.

·         Annual Measurable Outcomes:  Due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, schools have to meet the annual measurable outcomes, AMOs, in order to make adequate yearly progress.  The principal is ultimately blamed or celebrated, depending on the annual outcome. 

·         Staffing and Compensation:  Maintaining a highly qualified staff can be difficult because of seniority and tenure issues, and issues of compensation.  Determining who will be on the staff from year to year is an arduous, annual process.  Teachers and staff are more likely seek employment in more competitive markets, or even change industries.  Administrators can end up back in teaching positions simply due to budgetary cuts, poor performance, or even by choice.

Dilemmas

There are a myriad of dilemmas to Principalship.  A principal inheriting a well-run machine has a divergent set of dilemmas than the principal who has been assigned the insurmountable task of turning a "failing" or underachieving school around.  In any case, I believe the principal needs to establish and stay focused on the long- and short-term goals.  To do this effectively, the school leader additionally needs to assess the culture of the school, the needs of the students, and the talents and capacities of the faculty.  Although the initial plan of action may be modified over time, it should never change its core goals.  Regardless of the size and complexity of the institution, the faculty and staff should be included in crafting the plan and communicating it with the parent population as well as with other stakeholders. 


Oftentimes, the principal's assignment purpose is a directly related to how long the principal will remain in that assignment.  The one who is in charge during the initial or early phases of drastic change and who must make controversial decisions endures a brief tenure.  Even though the program may go on and thrive, the leader will inevitably move on, or be ushered out, and thrive in a different setting.


The complexity of principals' work is often characterized in terms of dilemmas. In School Restructuring and the Dilemmas of Principals' Work by Helen Wildy (h.wildy@cowan.edu.au) three dilemmas are identified. The autonomy dilemma concerns providing strong and shared leadership. The efficiency dilemma concerns leading collaborative decision-making that is efficient. The accountability dilemma concerns empowering local decision-making while complying with external requirements. These dilemmas are explored using data from a standards framework for school principals in a large restructuring system. Judgments on what matters in principals’ work reveal the skills, knowledge and dispositions required for principals in restructuring schools, and judgments about levels of performance are shown by how well particular examples of principals work are rated using a Rasch analysis. This study found what matters is that principals care for and involve others, are strong, fair and open to alternatives, articulate long-term views and balance these conflicting qualities. But, when faced with the dilemmas of restructuring, principals favor strong leadership over shared leadership, efficiency rather than collaboration, and accountability to central requirements over shared local decision-making.


I've perused several bodies of research on principals' dilemmas.  No matter the underlying issues and reasons for the assignment, each work's overview was that  the principal should keenly and tightly focus on the goals, support the teachers and staff in their work with the students, and establish an open forum of communication with the school community with patient, professional urgency.


If you'd like to read more on the dilemmas of principals' work, go to http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14276877 to read SCHOOL 
ADMINISTRATION: Persistent Dilemmas in Preparation and Practice online in its entirety.  

Failure sometimes is the option, and may at times be inevitable...but it's NOT the End

Plastered on walls, doors, plaques, and even book covers you see the saying, "Failure is Not an Option".  How contradictory is this communication, when students, teachers, administrators, schools, and school systems alike receive a failing grade based on a snapshot of progress.  Here are some suggestions to amending this overused slogan:

• "Success is a Process"
• "Success is a Journey, and sometimes the pitfalls of Failure are at the forks in the road; Navigate wisely"
• "Success is the Quotient when Diligence and Hard Work are your Dividend and Divisor"
• "Success is the Sum when ___ and ___ are the Addends"
• "Success is the Product when _____ and ________ are the Factors"
• "The only real failure in life is the failure to try"