"Cages of Their Own Design" by Frederic Hess

Principals, particularly in charter schools, think that they are or will be hamstrung by union contracts, policies, and regulations as the conventional wisdom suggests. However, American Enterprise Institute education director Frederick Hess suggests differently in a 2009 article in Educational Leadership.

 

Hess believes that many school leaders are afflicted by “debilitating timidity” that makes them “tepid agents of change.” Principals and superintendents should boldly take advantage of the power they have, says Hess. He describes how principals can do that:

• Push the envelope. “Scrutinize the contract and related policies, asking whether there is anything explicitly prohibiting an action,” he says. Hess also suggests consulting with leaders and books in fields other than education to see how they address similar challenges.

• Shine a spotlight. Publicize laws, regulations, and labor agreements that make it more difficult to improve teaching and learning. Hess believes that when the New Teacher Project raised a hue and cry over seniority-based “bumping” in New York City schools, it led to improved teacher assignment policies.

• Get the law on your side. Make the law a tool for reform. Work with smart, creative, tough-minded lawyers to “make ambiguity and uncertainty work for, rather than against, a leader’s school improvement efforts.”

• Welcome nontraditional thinking. Educational leaders from nontraditional backgrounds are more likely to say the emperor has no clothes and ask, Why do we do it this way? Tapping into unconventional skills, insights, and ways of thinking will move the ball downfield.

• Provide cover. Superintendents should encourage and support their principals to take risks in service of improving schools, says Hess – even if some ideas don’t pan out.

Improving failing schools inevitably involves “creating some hard feelings, upending familiar routines, and overcoming established procedures,” concludes Hess. “Geniality is a good thing, but there is a time for consensus and a time for conflict. Principals and superintendents intent on radically improving schools and systems need to accept and be prepared for a good bit of turbulence.”

References:

“Cages of Their Own Design” by Frederick Hess in Educational Leadership, October 2009 (Vol. 67, #2, p. 28-33)