Timothy P. Wiens has worked with students in urban, suburban, and international settings. He holds an undergraduate degree in education and psychology and a master’s degree in educational leadership, both from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a sixth-year degree in K–12 administration from St. Mary’s University.
Much has been written in the past several years about the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the continued disparity in educational opportunities nationwide. Despite 50 years of educational reform, we understand that the urban poor continue to lag behind those who are afforded suburban or prep school educations (Payne 2003; Larson 2003). Many arguments exist about why such discrepancies occur. And there is no certainty about how to combat the inequity in education from city to city, state to state, and even school to school.
I have been fortunate to have worked as both a teacher and an administrator in several fine school districts and prep schools. Throughout my career in education, I have seen a variety of creative educational programs that have made an impact on the learning of young people, and I have witnessed some poor educational practices that have created negative feelings and angst toward the entire educational community. I have dealt with students who have been afforded the finest luxuries the world has to offer as well as ones who come to school daily fighting hunger and neglect.
What we as Christian school educators must do is create educational opportunities for our students that will instill within them a desire to learn, an opportunity to grow, and an understanding that excellence is never easy.
Educational inequity is real. There are many different reasons, including a lack of funding within school districts, a lack of family and community support, a lack of effort by individual students, and unfortunately a lack of effort at times by both the educational community and the school systems’ broad-based constituencies. Now is not the time for excuses, however. What we as Christian school educators must do is create educational opportunities for our students that will instill within them a desire to learn, an opportunity to grow, and an understanding that excellence is never easy. We must also instill within our students, parents, faculty, nonteaching staff, and school boards the idea that Christian schools must be places that challenge the intellect and train students to enter the next phase of life fully prepared as servant-leaders.
In building Christian schools that create such a culture of excellence and offer all students the opportunity to succeed, several ideals must be pursued.
A Sense of Purpose
Excellent schools begin with a clear mission that is understood by the entire educational community (DeKuyper 2003). The mission of your particular school or district should make clear the direction you are headed in throughout your academic, athletic, extracurricular, and co-curricular programs and in the social environment provided to your student body. The mission must also provide a clear sense of purpose for all major decisions. In making such decisions, it is essential to look back on the defined mission and make sure that it is the driving factor.
In the Edina (Minnesota) Public Schools, the mission of the school district is considered of utmost importance (Edina Public Schools 2001). The school district has long been known for its excellence, which can be attributed to a clearly defined sense of purpose that has an impact on all curricular decisions and that drives all programs. Likewise, each year a strategic plan is developed on the basis of past strategic plans, visionary leadership, and the corporate vision shared by all within the system. The outcomes reflect great parental and community support, outstanding academic achievement, quality artistic and athletic programs, and a motivated faculty.
A Strong Leadership Team
The best mission and the most detailed strategic plans cannot be implemented with an ineffective leadership team. A school’s sense of purpose will not be readily understood and will fail to permeate every aspect of the school without strong leadership (Monroe 1999). Much has been written about leadership and leadership styles, and many different styles can be and are effective. What is essential for leaders to understand, however, is that today’s faculty and staff, despite their individual leadership styles, want to be involved in the decision-making process and kept informed of major happenings within the school and district. Wayson, Mitchell, Pinnell, and Landis (1988, 10) say that the leader must “aspire to a noble ideal of education,” ensure widespread participation, and build on the faculty’s strengths. Widespread participation will then be a catalyst for collaboration across the school and between curricular areas.
The leadership team must also know the personal strengths and weaknesses of the administration and faculty. From this understanding the team may then capitalize on individual strengths and build a successful program that will enable all to work from areas of knowledge while minimizing the discomfort of improper placement.
A Culture of High Expectations
Inequity begins with expectation. When expectation is low, so is performance. Too often the expectations of students are too low in urban districts that are largely populated by students of color (Ogbu 2003). What ought to be an environment of high expectations often turns from high hopes to discouragement.
In both Boston and St. Paul, I have worked with urban students who have come to school with the idea that it is not “cool” to get good grades. I have worked with students who have confessed that they are afraid to get good grades because of the reaction they will receive from their peers. It is, therefore, our expectations for our students that must lead to cultural change. Yes, we must change the cultural mindset that reinforces education as a negative into the mind-set that education will lead to an improved life.
A Stimulating Learning Environment
For us to be able to get the strong-willed antistudent to crave learning, we must create a learning environment that is intellectually stimulating. Unfortunately, many of our students’ role models often have no interest in education or the life that an education can bring. Much of the music that represents the culture of the city glorifies drugs, alcohol, sexual gratification, and a lifestyle that can certainly be seen as hedonistic and anti-intellectual. The educator’s job of enticing students to go home and study is therefore difficult. How do we, the educators, make education and learning attractive?
The damage a single bad teacher can do is enormous; similarly, the impact a good teacher can have on the life of an individual and an entire classroom should not be underestimated.
One of an administrator’s primary responsibilities is to hire and maintain a high-quality (Lewis 1986). Simply put, there is nothing more important in a school than good teachers. The damage a single bad teacher can do is enormous; similarly, the impact a good teacher can have on the life of an individual and an entire classroom should not be underestimated. Many of us can recall a specific teacher or individual who critically influenced our desire to become an educator. I can think of two teachers who made history come alive and who created within me a desire to learn history for no other reason than that learning was fun. We may remember the student who came back and thanked us for making learning enjoyable. The feeling we got when that happened may have even been the reason we chose education as a vocation.
Once teachers are hired, programs should be in place that will enable them to grow. Such programs should include the mentoring of young teachers by master teachers, professional development that introduces teachers to new and exciting pedagogical strategies, introduction of classroom management ideas, and administrative support and encouragement that is meant to foster growth in individual teachers. We must find ways to make it clear that education is a vocation that changes lives, including the lives of the teachers.
Aldo Sicoli, assistant superintendent of the Burnsville Public Schools in Burnsville, Minnesota, has been a good friend of mine for many years. Pinned to his bulletin board is a three-by-five-inch index card that simply says, “The quality of education is dependent on the quality of teaching.” With good teachers, every classroom can excite students to learn and can prepare them for life and citizenship.
A Sense of Community
Educators can change a school or system that has a history of poor academic achievement, although it will not be easy, and there may be barriers along the way. In her book Nothing’s Impossible: Leadership Lessons from Inside and Outside the Classroom, Lorraine Monroe (1999) outlines how she changed the image of a school and built an academic program to rival prep schools. She did so on a small budget, with a difficult staff at times, and in an area of Harlem that was not originally receptive to her strategies. Her message is certainly excellence through perseverance.
It is up to us as educational leaders to develop a culture of learning within our schools and the entire community. At my current school, we have an orientation program for new students and parents that is designed to introduce them to the culture and expectations of the school. Part of our parental agreement requires these students and their parents to attend this orientation that we believe will more fully involve them in the school’s culture and community.
We make sure our teachers are also involved outside the classroom. All our teachers display their daily homework online, and our parents are expected to check the website daily. Even though we are an urban school with a high percentage of our students coming from low-income families, we have found that almost all our students’ homes are now equipped with computers. And if they are not, we have sought community donations to get a computer into the home. This program has truly benefited our students and has opened communication lines between teachers and families. Likewise, on the parents’ page of our website, we post all school-related activities, an online newsletter, and the student handbook.
Bryk, Lee, and Holland (1993, 293) state that when a school fosters community the results literally create “the engagement of school members in its mission.” We as administrators must search for and find new ways to reach out to our communities.
A Quality Academic Program
There is currently a demand for excellence, and we must meet this challenge regardless of our resources. As No Child Left Behind states, we as school leaders are responsible for the success of every individual student. It is no longer good enough to help most students succeed.
The academic culture and programs we develop and maintain within our schools will either promote or detract from our mission to provide our students with educational excellence. And
not every school and district will have the same emphasis when implementing programs. But the key is to provide educational options that promote the mission and vision of the school and that provide students with an academic foundation that will enable them to seek and find an appropriate educational or work experience following graduation.
At Boston Trinity Academy, we have an internship program that enables seniors to gain valuable practical experience through a variety of outside academic and work-related experiences. In similar programs nationwide, students have made inroads within the workplace and have been able to follow up the internship with jobs or further practical experience as they continue their education in college or technical school.
Whatever programs you create, begin to think outside the educational box that has been created and begin to implement programs that will stretch your students and faculty, creating a culture that is rooted in intellect, commitment, and perseverance.
A Quality Assessment Strategy
The final strategy any school must construct is its assessment strategy. Much may be determined by state and federal guidelines. However, it is important to use assessment as a teaching tool. Palomba and Banta (1999) suggest that the purpose of assessment is to improve student learning and individual development. Therefore, if our assessment initiatives are designed with an emphasis on measuring the effectiveness of our curricular programs, both classroom and systemwide assessment measures will serve to improve the learning of all students.
While no school should be content to look at test scores and let the curriculum be driven only by a need to pass an exam, student test scores can and should be used schoolwide to learn what curricular areas must be improved upon, what areas are effective, and how teachers may use assessment measures to improve the learning of individual students. Curriculum and classroom practices may then be strengthened with the understanding that test proficiency is desired but that a well-rounded student body should also be a by-product of instruction.
Conclusion
Administrators can do much to control inequity within their schools. While greater economic resources could certainly be beneficial, the reality of the situation is that many of us do not and will not have them at our disposal. We must not give in to the discouragement that many feel when programs are cut and the achievement gap is great. Rather, we need to employ strategies that will enable success within the system in which we work. Ensuring that our mission matches our vision, promoting an inclusive culture that sets high expectations for all, and creatively teaching and assessing our student body in new and meaningful ways will enable greater success and will begin educational environment of excellence.
All references are available in the attachment below.
The Meantime Volume 6 Number 1