A bi-monthly e-newsletter, Volume 6, Number 1 (Aug-Oct 2007)
This edition's topic: Leadership Across Boundaries
Contents:
IEL’s
“L” WORD: LEADERSHIP ACROSS BOUNDARIES[1]
IEL works to ensure that all
youth—regardless of ethnicity, income, language or disability—have the
opportunity to obtain a high quality education that prepares them for success
in college, careers and civic life, without need for remediation. Effective
leadership is crucial to achieving this goal.
School leaders’ impact on
student achievement is second only to that of the teacher. They must be able to
build trust among teachers, administrators, and parents, plus create and
sustain learning environments in which all students can and will succeed. And,
they must be able to engage students, families, and other community groups as
partners in the learning and development of young people. The efforts of all
of these partners, working together in varied environments and circumstances,
are required to promote and support the growth and development of all young
people.
IEL believes that leaders
must be culturally competent and have skills in three areas in order to help
all youth make successful transitions from pre-K through postsecondary to the
world of work and on into civic life:
- Lead by knowing learning
and development, and understanding the many ways and places in which youth
learn and develop.
- Lead by crossing
boundaries—race, culture, institutions and hierarchies—to build networks
of people, institutions and resources, inside and outside the school.
- Lead by helping to shape
the policies and practices of the systems and organizations that have an
impact on how young people learn and develop.
Effective leaders must
understand the content and processes of effective teaching and learning in a
range of contexts, including Pre-K–16 public education, alternative education,
and workforce development. And, they need to understand the leaders’ role as
manager, and have the skills to use the strategic tools that support
accountability for results and continuous improvement. Equally important and
critical to their success, they need the skills to build agreements and work
with other institutions and systems, entities over which they have no direct
control, but whose work influences their own success.
For over 40 years, IEL has
worked to improve public education—directly with policymakers, practitioners,
and stakeholders, through institutions and agencies at all levels, and in
communities large and small. Based on those experiences, IEL has developed a
leadership framework for helping to guide the development of leaders, broadly
defined, who have the competencies necessary to enable student success in the
21st century.
Use these links to review IEL’s
Leadership Competencies framework on-line in Word or PDF.
[1] {Editor’s Note: IEL
has been engaged in a strategic planning process over the past several months,
looking to the future and better defining our role. We are excited about the
opportunities that reflection provide, and to the feedback we trust you to give
us about our efforts. This issue’s commentary is a critical piece that
undergirds all of the work of IEL.}
NEWS
& RESOURCES
Leadership
- Belonging is Necessary
For Learning: That is a key
message from this year’s Jacqueline P. Danzberger Memorial lecturer, Claude Steele, Ph.D., the Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences,
and the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences at Stanford University. His presentation, co-sponsored by IEL at the annual conference of the
National School Boards Association (NSBA), explored the implications of
his and others’ research that confirmed the critical nature and impact of
the subtle (and not-so-subtle) cues existing in classrooms and in
communities: they hold the power to either encourage or discourage the
achievement and development of children and youth. (He was drawn into the
research when considering racial and gender gaps in academic achievement
test results.) Dr. Steele also stressed the critical role of leaders in remedying the situation. Download an excerpted/edited copy of his
remarks, “Making Schools Places Where Everyone Succeeds: Belonging
Is Necessary For Learning,” at http://www.iel.org/pubs/2007_jd_steele.pdf.
- Deciphering Supreme
Court Decisions: Having trouble
making sense of the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding race-conscious
student assignment plans? Then see this practical guide, Not Black
& White, co-published by the NSBA’s Council of Urban Boards of
Education and Office of General Counsel along with The College Board. It
is not legal advice, but rather an information resource for elementary and
secondary district officials and school boards. It offers practical
policy guidance based on the Court’s opinions, and the policy implications
and action steps of any district process of developing or reexamining
policies intended to promote student diversity and/or reduce racial isolation.
The paper can be found on-line at: http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41600/41600.pdf.
Connecting
Community
- Leveling the Playing
Field: There has been considerable “push-back” against the total focus on academic development/progress inherent in No Child Left Behind by those who have argued that there is more to childhood development and opportunity. There is also a growing chorus that challenges the “deficit” model applied to low-income students (longer hours with more drilling, less or no time for analytical, creative, or physical development, etc.), compared to the extended learning opportunities of children in middle-class homes (activities that encourage students to ask questions, negotiate rules, and challenge assumptions). Writers Heidi Harris Lemmel and Robert Rothman, in the summer issue of Voices in Urban Education (VUE, from The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University) present essays from a variety of people who reinforce that youth need not only academic abilities but also social competencies that will enable them to succeed in school, the workforce, and society. Included is an essay by Providence, RI Mayor David Cicciline, a passionate proponent of investing in children’s out-of-school development, who created an After-School Alliance to establish quality standards, build the capacity of recreation centers, and create neighborhood hubs that would enable young people to gain access to affordable, high-quality services. You can access all of the essays on the Annenberg site at: http://www.annenberginstitute.org/VUE/summer07/Rothman.php.
- Chicago Continues Expansion of Community Schools: School chief Arne Duncan and Mayor Daley have joined forces to call for an end to gang violence—which would be no big news.
What is really significant are the remedies they are recommending, with
the help of $25 million from local and federal funds. Based on the
success that the 415,000-student Chicago district has already seen, they
are adding 40 new community schools over the coming year to the already
existing 110, offering a variety of
resources and services after school and on weekends. You can find the
article by Bess Keller in Education Week (Volume 27, Issue 5,
September 26, 2007) or on-line “Chicago Launches
Anti-Violence Effort.”
Policy/Systems
- Growing the Seeds for Better
Transitions: IEL’s Center for Workforce Development was recently awarded a 24-month cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) to establish a “National Technical Assistance Center on Transition and Employment for Youth with Disabilities.” (To see ODEP’s press release, click here.) It is the next phase of the CWD’s initiative, the NCWD/Youth (National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth). NCWD/Y will continue to work to ensure that transition age youth with disabilities are provided full access to high quality services in integrated settings to gain education, employment and independent living. A significant project of NCWD/Y over the next two years will focus on identifying promising practices, using individualized learning plans to narrow learning gaps and promote career readiness and employment outcomes. And, one of its key goals is to promote the need for and further grow a professional development system for youth service professionals. Besides CWD,
the NCWD/Y partners include: the National
Youth Employment Coalition, Washington, D.C., the PACER Center,
Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Center on Education and Work at the University
of Wisconsin—Madison; and the University of Minnesota's Institute for
Community Integration in Minneapolis. Visit the NCWD/Y’s Web site to see
the wide range of information, guides, tools, and other resources
developed since the initiative originally launched in 2001: www.ncwd-youth.info.
- Closing Another Gap: IEL Senior Fellow (and past president) Michael Usdan along with Stanford professor Michael Kirst co-authored a chapter in a new
publication from Harvard Education Press, Minding the Gap: Why
Integrating High School With College Makes Sense and How To Do It (edited by Nancy Hoffman, Joel Vargas, Andrea Venezia, and Marc Miller). Their chapter, “The History of the Separation of K-12 and Postsecondary
Education,” provides a condensed but clear picture of the K-16
“disjuncture” and policy implications. The book provides an excellent
resource for those people working towards what demographer Harold “Bud”
Hodgkinson labeled “All One System” over 20 years ago—practitioners,
policymakers, researchers, etc. The book can be ordered from Harvard
Education Press: http://www.hepg.org/hep/Book/70.
- Is There A Culture Of
Poverty? In a provocative
article, "The Question of Class," author Paul Gorski challenges
this notion upon which a lot of current school reform policies and
strategies are based. He contends that "working with parents in
poverty" or "teaching students in poverty" actually
suggests, however subtly, we must “fix” the poor—rather than eliminating
the inequities that oppress them in the first place. He is concerned that
the education community’s approach to understanding the relationships
between poverty, class, and education has been framed by studying the
behaviors and cultures of poor students and their families: why those people don't value education, why those parents don't attend our
functions and meetings, why those kids are so unmotivated.
However, he observes that these efforts stand in stark contrast to
research that has indicated again and again there is no such culture of
poverty. To the contrary, he contends that there is more a culture of
“classism,” and that it is all too easy for even well-meaning folks to
help perpetuate classism by accepting the “culture of poverty” mindset,
thus avoiding the harder question of how classism pervades our classrooms
and schools. The article was published in Teaching Tolerance magazine and can be downloaded at: http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/features.jsp?p=0&is=40&ar=777.
“MUSE”
FROM IEL
(Commentary by Betty Hale, IEL President)
WholeLeaderWatch: IEL continues to identify important resources
in support of the development of whole leaders: individuals whose actions
support and nurture the development of the whole child. In April, The American Educational Research Association
(AERA) created the first-ever Special Interest Group on social and emotional
learning. Its purpose is to advance research on the science and
practice of social and emotional learning (SEL), and research topics include:
the relationships among social-emotional competencies and academic, health, and
citizenship outcomes, and the impact of SEL interventions on the adjustment,
behavior, and academic performance of children and adolescents. You can learn
more about the SEL movement at the Web site of the Collaborative for Academic,
Social and Emotional Learning, http://www.casel.org/news.php.
In the summer of 2007, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development (ASCD) released the report of its Commission on the Whole Child, The
Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action. http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/Whole%20Child/WCC%20Learning%20Compact.pdf.
(Note: IEL provided technical expertise and project management to the
Commission during its inaugural year.) The Commission wants to change the
discussion about learning and schooling from a focus on reforming structures to a focus on transforming conditions so that each child can develop
his/her strengths and restore his unique capacities for intellectual, social,
emotional, physical, and spiritual learning. A teacher in East Islip, NY, writing in the September 25th issue of Newsday http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opclo255388686sep25,0,2466182.story’ stated, “Children and their schools are so much more than tests.” She
commented on NCLB’s deleterious impact on what and how teachers teach, closing
with the statement, “. . . Science, social studies, art, music and other
subjects that create a well-rounded child are being pushed into the
background.” Mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter, the 2007 Danzberger
Memorial Lecture made it clear that “belonging is necessary for learning,” and
that leadership was required to create environments in which all students felt
that they are welcomed. Confirming the importance of understanding social
identities, the most recent publication of The Center for Creative Leadership, Social Identity: Knowing Yourself, Leading Others, identified as a major leadership
challenge having the ability to bring together groups of people with very
different histories, perspectives, values, and cultures—i.e., different “social
identities.” CCL points out that workers today no longer share a common
culture and common values. To be successful, leaders must develop an awareness
of their social identities and those of the individuals with whom they
work—issues that resonate for whole leaders in all domains.
SITE-TO-CITE
- There’s
a Whole Lot More to the Whole Child: As a result of
its effort, ASCD has assembled a variety of resources for practitioners,
policymakers, parents, and other community members to help support the message
that there is more to be done to help prepare our youth for the future. Visit
their Whole
Child pages, where you will find other resources, in addition to the
aforementioned Compact, including an on-going community
conversations element and materials from the various Community Conversation models (small group,
student, pre-service teachers, large forums).
- Navigating College Choices on
the Info Highway: Since its creation in 2001, the Department of
Education College Opportunities Online (COOL) Web site has helped hundreds of
thousands of students and families learn about colleges and universities, and
its successor, “College Navigator” offers users even more information in an
easy-to-use format. It is a free tool designed to help students, parents, high
school counselors, and others get information about nearly 7,000 postsecondary
institutions in the US. (It was developed by the National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] within the Institute of Education Sciences.) Visit http://collegenavigator.ed.gov
- Side By Side—Quality & Data: Even most detractors would agree that data can be a
helpful tool, but worry that imperfect data is at the bottom of—and driving—too
much of school reform. That’s one of the reasons IEL has joined the list of
organizations endorsing the Data
Quality Campaign, which is a national, collaborative effort to encourage
and support state policymakers to: (1) improve the collection, availability,
and use of high-quality education data; and (2) implement state longitudinal
data systems to improve student achievement. The DQC was created in 2005, with
support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is managed by the National Center for Educational
Accountability (NCEA). See the DQC Web site for more information and a list
of the managing and endorsing organizations.
- Digging for Deeper Data: Another major interstate being built on the
“high-quality” data highway is SchoolDataDirect (www.SchoolDataDirect.org),
designed to provide free, easy-to-use state education data and analytic tools
to the public. It was launched by the Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO) under the guidance of its newly created State Education Data Center (and also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). It has many of the
same features as its predecessor (SchoolMatters.com), but offers a significant
new tool that allows state education data to be downloaded directly from the
Web site. For more information on the SEDC and SchoolDataDirect, please visit CCSSO’s site or contact Paige Kowalski at paigek@ccsso.org.
EVENTS
- Early Bird Notice for the
Coalition for Community Schools’ 10th National Forum (April/May 2008): Have you noticed the expanding “community schools”
movement yet (which enjoys the support of educators, families, politicians,
community activists, and business people)? The movement’s growing
influence and evidence of positive results for children and their community can
be experienced first-hand at the Coalition for Community Schools’ 10th National
Forum, in Portland, OR, April 30—May 2, 2008. The CCS is staffed by and
housed at IEL. To learn more about the event, visit their Web site at: http://communityschools.org/.
The last Forum was a sell-out, so be sure to register now to secure a spot and
the best price possible.
- Upcoming Education Organization
Conferences:
- The Council of the Great City
Schools Annual Fall Conference,
Oct 31-Nov 04, 2007,
Nashville, TN (Renaissance Nashville Hotel), Theme: “Singing Student Success”
- Education Trust 18th National Conference, Nov 8-10,
2007, Washington, DC, (Grand Hyatt Hotel)
Theme:
“Courageous Choices: Tackling Tough Issues to Raise Student Achievement &
Close Gaps”
- University
Council for Educational Administration 21st Annual Convention, Nov 15-18, 2007,
Washington, DC, Theme:
“Fostering Compassion and Understanding Across Borders: An International
Dialogue About The Future Of Educational Leadership”
- Association for Career and
Technical Education, Dec. 13-15, 2007,
Las
Vegas, NV (Hilton), Theme: “Connecting Education and Careers”
Visit
IEL’s Web site to see a list of other upcoming events sponsored by IEL and/or
its many partners and collaborators, at http://www.iel.org/events.html.
Submission deadline for the next issue: November
14, 2007
About IEL and IELeadership
Connections
The Institute for Educational
Leadership (a non-profit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC) works to achieve better results for children, Pre-K through Postsecondary. At the
heart of IEL's effectiveness is a unique ability to bring people together to
identify and resolve issues across policy, program, and sector boundaries.
IEL connects evidence to ideas and results to action in three issue
areas: Developing and Supporting Leaders, Strengthening
School-Family-Community Connections, and Connecting and Improving
Policies and Systems that Serve Children and Youth. Through IELeadership
Connections, IEL’s free bi-monthly newsletter focused on leadership for
education, IEL is building and nurturing an on-line network. Please feel
free to pass it on to interested parties. We will do our best to provide
active links and information but cannot be responsible for expired links.
IELC is edited by Denise Slaughter, Director of Communications, and to
submit a news item, suggest a topic for future publication, or provide
feedback, send an e-mail to feedback@iel.org with
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