School Signs

What does buying a car have to do with a school district’s mission and public relations?

A weary odometer and the beleaguered groans of my Subaru Forester convinced me it was time to buy a new car. I was approaching retirement and opted to reward myself by upgrading to an Outback, Subaru’s premium vehicle. I visited the local dealership, the one I drove by ever day on my route to school.

The large sign at the front of the dealership proclaimed SUBARU, though the vehicles that lined the entrance were products of a variety of domestic manufacturers, from a used Corvette to a couple of different pick-up trucks. I would later learn this collection included loaner cars as well.

An all too eager salesperson greeted me outside before I was halfway to the showroom. After I expressed my interest in a new Outback, he shepherded me past the four rows of used Subaru cars on the side of the building, along a gravel path and through some mud as we made our way up the slope to the rear of the building to the shiny new vehicles, and finally to their most expensive model, the Outback (since surpassed in price by the Ascent since this blog was generated). He apologetically explained that the construction on the new showroom consumed the former lot and displaced the new cars until the transition from old building to new building was completed.

I decided to buy a new Outback at the next closest Subaru dealership. Not long after, the dealership I originally visited announced they were operating under new ownership. Within weeks the transformation was complete. New Subarus were featured in the front rows, used Subarus followed, and loaners and domestic used cars were at the back end – a pattern aligned with the business they were in – selling new Subaru vehicles.

What does this have to do with schools?

If I drove twenty-five miles east of my house I would cross the attendance areas of four different school districts. Interestingly, each of these school systems mark their boundaries with prominently located signs on the main arteries weaving through the community proudly noting the athletic accomplishments of their respective districts. The first district greets people with a sign pointing out their state Football championships (4); the second district lists state titles in Baseball (3), Softball (2), and Cross-Country (7); continuing eastward and drivers will learn that the next district earned state championships in Field Hockey (2); and finally, the fourth school district boasts state titles in Ice Hockey (1) and Cross-Country (22). The sum of these signs reveals great athletic achievements in the region. Congratulations are in order for the coaches, athletes and supporters of these teams in their pursuit of excellence.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals and others have long noted the positive link between participation in sports (and extracurricular activities in general) with success as measured in grade point average, attendance patterns, behavior in school, and college aspirations.

What are you advertising? What are you selling?

At a time when public schools are under siege by conservative fiscal practices at the national and state levels, well-intentioned but often misguided policy makers, expanded numbers of Charter schools, private and parochial schools, and an ever-increasing number of children receiving home-instruction – what are we doing to inform our community members and taxpayers to ward off these threats to the future of public schools?  All too frequently, we are erecting signs listing state championships at the entrance to our attendance areas for passers-by to bear witness; and filling up trophy cases in the lobbies of our high schools broadcasting our athletic prowess to visitors. These accomplishments are relatively hollow in the sense that less than one half of the population of a typical secondary school participate in athletics. What about the accomplishments of the non-athletes? Are they not valued merely because they operate outside of the spotlight created by the sports sections of the local newspapers?  Because crowds do not attend math classes and throngs of people fail to show up at science lab demonstrations? Because academic medals and banners are not routinely awarded other than at graduation ceremonies?

Visitors to the high school in Cooperstown, New York cannot enter the campus without noticing the large sign at the entrance that provides data on the attendance rate, achievement levels, and other important data on the outgoing senior class. This sign clearly indicates what the school values and what they represent. This is a much better manner of introduction and a more comprehensive view of their goals. One can easily determine that Cooperstown High School is in the business of teaching and learning.  

What business is pursued at the school where you contribute your time and effort?

Disparate Directions = Desperate Divisions

The chaotic political dynamic in Albany (and many other states wresting with fiscal concerns and policy initiatives - Common Core and Accountability measures) between the Governor and the state legislature (and lobbyists, as well as the constituent groups they represent) routinely inhibits progress because state budget items and formulas differ vastly among the state's 700 school districts. 

- United we stand, divided we fall.

Attitude + Aptitude = Altitude

If altitude, how high you reach in your role at school, is interpreted as your potential, then determining your altitude is the result of the attitude you bring to that equation, plus the aptitude nurtured by your employer via professional development opportunities.

I have always followed the advice of Southwest Airlines, where their human resource department states that they "hire for attitude, and train for altitude." Given the inevitable changes in education - technological, political, economic,... - it does little good to hire someone on the basis of possession of a skill that may be ephemeral and soon replaced by the next new thing. Rather, hire those people who genuinely display the attitude your organization values (cooperation, communication, compassion...), demonstrate a commitment to life-long learning, and exhibit at least average levels of achievement. 

The employer is responsible for cultivating these ingredients in pursuit of individual and organizational success.

Selling and Buying Ideas

In Daniel Pink's great book, To Sell is Human, he asserts that we are all salespeople beyond those we usually associate with selling products. That is, we regularly try to persuade others to buy our ideas in every-day, simple negotiations, from which restaurant to go to, to which movie to watch. Teachers are purveyors of ideas that they attempt to sell to learners on a daily basis, in exchange for the time and energy of the learners.

I believe in Pink's contention of an expanded view of what selling is about. Not just products, but processes as well. If you accept this premise, then I recommend the following two books - 1. Selling the Invisible: a Field Guide to Modern Marketing, by Harry Beckwith. and, 2.  Buy-ology: Truth and Lies about Why We Buy, by Martin Lindstrom.

Beckwith speaks to people who are tasked with selling the abstract -  like life insurance or an education - concepts or experiences that are not something you could touch, see, smell, or hear. Contrast intangibles with something real and present - like a car. You can sit in the car, smell the newness, feel the seats, hear the engine, test drive it and now right away whether or not it's worthy of your investment. You can't see education or life insurance in the moment. These two examples of the intangible are long term in nature and without a score or rank at the end of the day. Beckwith's book is a valuable resource.

Lindstrom offers an interesting read that is replete with examples or summaries of research studies, unburdened by rich detail and endless footnotes. He presents evidence of why and how people are influenced, often times at an unconscious level, prior to making an investment, be it monetary or time.

Combining these three books have served me well in exercising leadership designed to sell education to consumers who will not truly be able to determine the scope and value of a product they have invested in for years to come. If you indulge your professional curiosity you will acquire many practical ideas that can be employed in enlisting people in the mission of a school.

Optometrists, Dentists and ... School Culture and Empowerment?

Most people experience anxiety whenever they are administered routine diagnostic tests by their physician. The fear of having results point toward cancer is a significant contributing factor in the nervousness of patients. How many of us exhibit similar levels of anxiety when visiting their optometrist or dentist? And, what does all this have to do with school culture and empowerment?

Typically, we imagine the most dire prognosis discovered by an optometrist is the need for stronger glasses or, with a dentists, perhaps a new cavity. However, an eye exam from an optometrist can yield information that can hint at diabetes, autoimmune disorders, hypertension, high cholesterol as well as cancer ("Ocular melanoma can develop in the cells that make pigmentation in the eye. Your eye exam can also help detect skin cancer." www.yoursightmatters.com) A dental exam similarly can produce findings pointing toward types of cancer ("A dentist may find some oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers or pre-cancers during a routine exam." www.cancer.org)

It's not my intention to offer a lecture on health, although it is a good idea to regularly schedule appointments with your dentist and optometrist. Instead, I want to call attention to these medical professions that are often overlooked in the detection and fight against cancer - and draw an analogy with members of a school staff that are likewise discounted when constructing or maintaining the culture of a school (a negative culture can seem like an organizational cancer). 

Terry Deal has written extensively on the subject of organizational culture (most notably his landmark text, Corporate Culture: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life). His work is a rich and timeless resource that I can reliably turn to when confronted with an issue of impact regarding the climate of a school. In particular, his book, Managing the Hidden Organization: Strategies for Empowering Your Behind-the-Scenes Employee, offers considerable points of interest in how members of the support staff can be cultivated as key factors in the shape and direction of the school environment. Ignoring or discounting the importance and potential of staff members who are not perceived, by virtue of their status designated by a chart of the school's hierarchy, as contributors to the culture of the school, ensures that the future of the organization will be limited. 

Members of what is commonly referred to as the support staff (kitchen workers, custodians, para-professionals, secretaries, bus drivers...) often have a school-wide set of responsibilities that provide them a view of, or interactions with, potentially all children. As a result, that vantage point supplies valuable insight to the operation of the school. Bus drivers are usually the first and last school staff member to see children each day. Kitchen workers come face-to-face with nearly all children during every meal, extending them an opportunity to see children, in a less formal and guarded setting that can expose the needs and feelings of children. The same can be said of secretaries and monitors and the many other roles that comprise the "Behind-the-Scenes" staff - essential to the function of a school, but too often neglected in terms of their opinions on the school culture.

By tapping the reservoir of all school employees and providing proportionate representation in matters of professional development activities and school decision-making councils,... the school can be enriched through the empowerment of all support staff members.

Investment in Human Infrastructure???

The title of this Blog evolved from an article I found on the internet (see link below) that identified the thirteen college majors in which pay goes nowhere. It is both interesting and ironic that a large number of these majors (human services, social work, child development, special education, elementary education, pastoral ministry) are involved with training people in helping others. The list begs the question of how well our society is investing in the human infrastructure necessary to provide help in developing others and assistance in meeting the needs of others. Are we unconsciously promoting an “every man for himself” and “survival of the fittest” perspective that discounts collaboration and cooperation for the common good?

 Here’s the link and the list:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careerandeducation/13-college-majors-in-which-the-pay-goes-nowhere/ss-BBgcKgS?ocid=DELLDHP#image=14

1. Child Development

2. Human Services

3. Early Childhood and Elementary Education

4. Clinical Laboratory Science

5. Pastoral Ministry

6. Athletic Training

7. Medical Technology

8. Recreation and Leisure Studies

9. Special Education

10. Horticulture

11. Nutrition

12. Social Work

13. Theology      

The Who and The What of Interviews

Our school recently engaged in a search and selection process to fill teaching vacancies for the upcoming school year. We began the task by creating a group of interested, representative  stakeholders who then identified the attitude, skills, and experiences desired in someone joining our school community. That in itself is a deviation from the path often taken by schools seeking to fill openings. Too many interview committees (assuming that the committee isn't comprised solely of administrators) simply dig into the pile of applicants without a consensus on what they are looking for. As the Cheshire Cat advises Alice in Wonderland when she is lost, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." In such instances, committee members could be distracted in their quest by candidates who were in the same sorority/fraternity, attended the same college, or other intangible points of interest/coincidence, and travel off in a direction away from hiring the right teacher.

Once we reach agreement on what our organizational culture needs, and reflect on what our learners deserve, we used the list of attributes as a map to guide us through the pile of applications. The most important, and revealing, element of the application materials is the cover letter. Resumes all follow a couple of different templates that generally standardize the document and confine information to the "what" of the candidate - college degrees, major area of studies, grade point average, certifications, experience, references... The cover letter, on the other hand, if properly constructed (i.e. not simply a narrative of the resume, which is redundant) can provide interviewers with insight into how the applicant can distinguish him/herself from others. The well-crafted cover letter can explain "who" the applicant is and how they stand out. And, since we value who the person is more than what the person is, as every human service agency should, we are closer to finding the right person to add to our school community. Southwest Airlines claims that they, "Hire for attitude, and train for altitude." If we hire the right person, who "fits" our school culture, we are capable of training them in any area of unfamiliarity or deficiency.

The cover letter offers the applicant an opportunity to market him/herself by supplying how they can add value to the school community, why they are interested in this particular opportunity (we avoid hiring people looking for a job) and how they can maintain their balance while investing in the challenging role of meeting the needs of, and making a difference in, impoverished learners. It is important to note that we are not searching for people who mirror our existing staff, in some cookie cutter fashion. Instead, we want to find someone who can ensure that while we are aligned in our purpose, we are cognizant of the value of diversity in perspective, experience, and practice. 

We begin our interviews with a simple question.

What would you like to tell us about yourself beyond the content of your resume and outside the walls of a classroom? 

That solicitation is followed by:

What is your favorite book or movie?
If you could pick any character from any book or movie you've experienced, who would you like to be, and why?
Can you tell us about your hero/heroes?
If the person who knows you best was writing a book about your life, what would it be entitled, other than your name?
Think of the one best teacher you have ever interacted with - from Kindergarten on - and, without identifying the individual, explain why that person stands out from all the rest.
Recall a struggle or challenge you have faced, and without telling us what it was, describe the manner in which you overcame the obstacle.
What is more important - what you teach, how you teach, or who you teach? (explain your answer)
How do you maintain a balance in your work and life outside of school?

There are other questions intended to find out the values, aspirations, and uniqueness of the candidates. Finally, there are a few questions about classroom management, literacy instruction... that supply us with some of the conventional aspects of teaching. 

The ultimate decision on who we advance in the process to meet with the superintendent emerges out of a discussion among committee members on the fit between the potential of the candidate and the needs of our school/learners.

References are checked with respect to the degree of alignment between what the reference says and how the candidate defined him/herself.

I have been an active participant in hiring over one hundred teachers in my forty-two year leadership career as either a principal and superintendent. I cannot recall the grade point average or college or certification status of any of the people who were hired. But, I can fondly remember how they made children feel and what differences they made in the lives of others.