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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Living in Boston, Learning in Needham: A Sophomore’s Story

I met with Tim, a high school student I mentor, the other day to check in and see how his first semester is going. Tim (not his real name) is a sophomore and a Boston resident who participates in the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) Program. As one of only 33 Boston students of color at nearly all white Needham High School, Tim manages to get up early (5:00 a.m.) for the bus ride into suburban Needham, tackles assignments, rushes to football practice or a workout in the fitness center, and heads home to complete homework or rehearse for the church choir. Like any other teen, he struggles to balance his grades, football, friends, and responsibilities at home.

But Tim is also navigating his high school career within a venue far from his Boston neighborhood and the comfort of familiar friends and faces. It’s tough enough these days for teenagers to figure out how they fit in; it’s an additional challenge to live two lives, one in suburbia where many of your friends are white and the other in the city, where most of your friends are black.

Freshman year was an adjustment for Tim. His grades suffered a bit, but with the assistance of staff and the encouragement of his parents he muddled through and is in a much better place as a sophomore. He is more engaged and focused, and he talks more seriously about his schoolwork and its importance. He is a very social young man (part of the problem freshman year!), and he seems entirely comfortable in the halls of Needham High. He told me he plans to run as a student council rep in the spring, and I have no doubt he will be successful.
“I have a lot to offer,” he told me.

Tim’s participation in the METCO Program is a real advantage for him, one that not all Boston students of color can enjoy. His parents’ perseverance, the Commonwealth’s financial support, and the Needham community’s willingness to partner with METCO these past 42 years means that Tim, and about 140 other Boston students of color, can enjoy an exceptional educational experience with Needham resident students beginning in Kindergarten.

It’s not a one-way street, by the way. Needham’s students benefit from the METCO program as much as their Boston friends. While Tim and the other Boston students attending Needham Schools are receiving a great education, Needham’s students are experiencing and interacting with young people who look different than they do and who have different social and cultural circumstances. They are all learning about each other and gaining lifelong friends whom they will depend on long after they graduate from Needham High.

The Needham/METCO connection means that all of our students are teachers: White students and students of color share their stories, assist one another, appreciate their similarities and differences, and learn powerful lessons about the human family. These are meaningful and important lessons, especially as our students study, work, and live in an increasingly diverse and global society.

My hope is that Tim—and each of our METCO students—will continue to have a successful year, although I am certain there will be hurdles and obstacles. Clearly, his parents, teachers, pastor, and Boston and Needham friends will support and encourage him along the way. Indeed, he has so much to learn and to gain from his Needham Public Schools experience. And if we all listen carefully and pay close attention to his personal story, we, too, will be enriched by his presence in our classrooms and within our community.

To learn more about the Needham/METCO connection, check out our website: http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/metco/index.htm

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Honoring Song, Dance, and Play

A few days ago three Needham High School alumni, Steve Gross (’85), Leslie Woodies (’70), and Lisbeth Scott (’76) received the Distinguished Career Award for their accomplishments in the fields of the arts and social service. Following are the remarks I shared at a luncheon honoring these outstanding alum:

You know, over the years I have attended many assemblies and workshops with student and community groups. And I always try to leave an assembly with at least one idea, one take away that will help me summarize my experience and what I learned. So here is my take away from today: Song, Dance, and Joy. My take away is learning that our honorees have used their skills, talents, sense of wonder, and playfulness to lead creative and exuberant lives.

Your presence here today is a reminder, especially, of the power and relevance of scholarship in our world today and the importance of the arts in a comprehensive and rich academic program. You see, embedded in our definition of scholarship, at the very core of the way the Needham Public Schools understands scholarship, is the essential role creativity plays in our lives and learning. We believe it is essential to nurture a sense of awe, wonder, and playfulness within our children so that they may innovate, invent, and create. The role of music, literature, fine and performing arts, theatre, dance, and athletics are all essential ingredients to a high performing and high achieving school community. They also happen to be the DNA of a broader community where lives are enriched, neighborhoods enhanced, and human relationships are made meaningful and joyful.

Without a sense of creativity one has little capacity to problem solve, think independently, or take risks. The schools must promote an atmosphere of learning and scholarship that helps young people learn to think outside the box, offer alternative ideas, promote diverse thinking, and develop hypotheses that may be unconventional. In my view, the juxtaposition of scholarship and creativity makes sense; one supports and complements the other. Scholarship without creativity is a stately library without books.

Two authors folks in the Needham Schools have been following lately offer cautionary tales for those schools and communities that ignore the role of creativity in our classrooms.

Yong Zhao, a Michigan State University professor who recently penned Catching Up or Leading the Way (ASCD, 2009), exhorts Americans to be careful about the disabling effect of standardized testing and increasingly reduced opportunities for students to participate in the arts, music, and play in school. He notes that in an effort to encourage higher tests scores and become more competitive with other countries we have cut art programs in schools, for example, and emphasized academic drill and rote. Zhao believes the unique success of the American education system is its ability to help individuals grow into self-discovery and fulfillment. He posits that our economic and democratic success is a direct result of an innovative and nurturing education system that celebrates both diversity and divergent thinking. He warns us about trying to emulate the rest of the world too much. He writes:

“ Two paths lie in front of us: one in which we destroy our strengths in order to catch up with others in tests scores and one in which we build on our strengths so we can keep the lead in innovation and creativity. The current push for more standardization, centralization, high stakes testing, and test-based accountability is rushing us down the first path, while what will truly keep America strong and Americans prosperous … is the one that cherishes individual talents, cultivates creativity, celebrates diversity, and inspires curiosity.”

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind (Penguin, 2006) tells us that a heavy reliance on right brain activities—emotion, creativity, big picture thinking, and inventiveness—is the key to our continued success individually and as a nation. Like Zhao, he cautions us to reconsider the notion that only the highest SAT scores or GPAs are the sole source of success in a highly interdependent and globalized work place. He encourages us to remember the importance of creativity, design, storytelling, and play in our lives, schools, and work.

He relates the story of a greeting card artist and designer who was a frequent visitor to schools. When he walked into classrooms, he would note all the artwork on the walls and ask the same question: “My, there must be several artists in this room! Where are they?” In Kindergarten classes, every hand shot up. In second grade, 3/4 of the hands went up, and in fourth grade maybe half went up. But by sixth grade, no hands went up.

As our children grow and schoolwork and academics takes a more serious turn, do we push aside the arts and squelch the natural and bubbling enthusiasm, joy, and pride of our students? Do we turn off the music, eliminate recess, gut sports and co-curricular activities all in the name of promoting a first class educational experience and in the process deny young people a chance to discover the gifts within? Pink asserts: “The wealth of nations and the well-being of individuals now depends on having artists in the room. In a world enriched by abundance but disrupted by automation and (the) outsourcing of white-collar work, everyone regardless of profession, must cultivate an artistic sensibility.”

And that brings me back to song, dance, and joy—and to our three honorees. Using song, dance, and joyful play our three honorees have lived honorable, caring, and creative lives which have enabled and encouraged the dreams of their audiences, students, and community.

Lisbeth Scott, a singer, songwriter and composer, has lent her voice and her immense talent to several major theatrical and movie productions. She has received extraordinary artistic acclaim and has devoted herself to assisting those in need in rural and impoverished areas to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. Leslie Woodies, dedicated choreographer, performer and teacher, has immersed her life in the art of dance, theatre and movement. Steve Gross has inspired hope and possibility to untold number of children locally and in areas around the globe devastated by crisis and disaster. Relying on his love of athletics and theatre, Steve ensures at risk children have the opportunity to express themselves through movement and joyful play while healing their pain and trauma.

They have each shared their time, talent, and wisdom to make this a more beautiful and just world for all of us. They began their journey at Needham High School and were influenced by family, friends, and teachers to express themselves and to celebrate the creative spirit and possibility that lies within. Their lives are a manifestation of our core values, and a reminder to all of us of the power of creativity in our world and the need to rededicate ourselves as a school community to ensure that we always allow the arts, athletics, and co-curricular activities to remain a significant and integral component of the Needham Public Schools experience.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

It doesn't make the headlines...

Recently in Massachusetts there has been a lot of grumbling within the media and among citizens about incompetent and greedy government officials who are either on the take, unfit for duty, or milking the system for perks and pension privileges that those in the private sector could only dream of having. Regrettably, there is truth to some of the stories of state and local officials who, through their laziness or malfeasance, have tainted the reputation of the vast majority of public employees who work hard and smart every day on behalf of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth’s communities.

Yes, recently “retired” Massachusetts House Speakers have had a difficult time staying out of trouble. And there exist the occasional corrupt school superintendent or public safety official. Like you, I hope these rogues are rooted out in rapid fashion. Clearly, though, these misfits do not represent the vast majority of public employees most of us know.

Too often missing from the headlines are the hardworking, caring, and resourceful state and local employees—cops, teachers, parks employees, state officials, and numerous others—who not only put in an honest day’s work but successfully cooperate with one another to make our communities better places in which to work, play, and live.

Local officials in Needham represent the majority of public employees who do the right thing on behalf of their constituents as a routine part of their job. Over the last year and a half, for example, Needham Town and School staff, State Representative Harkins, and elected and appointed Town committees worked collaboratively with one another and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to remedy a significant indoor air quality concern at a local elementary school. Working together we have identified the problem, proposed a solution, and learned a week ago from the MSBA that the Town is eligible for $8.6 million that is partial reimbursement for a planned renovation of the school.

The competent, intelligent, and thoughtful advice and guidance of MDPH’s Michael Feeney and the MSBA’s Katherine Craven and Mary Pichetti, among dozens of other state and local staff who work with them, was welcomed, necessary, and invaluable. And they are all public employees you have likely never heard of and certainly not read about in the paper. These folks work long and hard hours and are always available by phone or email to answer a question or help out. They are responsive and responsible, and they go about their work quietly with little, if any, recognition for a job well done. Their work is not necessarily glamorous but their humble and steady public service and commitment makes our community and our schools better, cleaner, and safer places.

I am proud to work as a public employee in the Town of Needham and in Massachusetts. I am also honored to work with all the local and state employees and officials here who may not make the headlines but certainly make this community and Commonwealth a great place to live and learn.

You can learn more about our school renovation project here: http://rwd1.needham.k12.ma.us/newman_renovation_updates/

Sunday, August 9, 2009

One Superintendent's Summer

I often get asked: What, exactly, do you do in the summer when all of the students and staff are gone? Well, besides getting home at a more reasonable hour during the summer weeks (my daughters don’t know what to do with me), occasionally wearing shorts to work, and enjoying longer and more thoughtful conversations with teachers, parents, and school committee members, summer provides the time for reading, reflecting, and preparing for a new school year.

This fall we will open High Rock, the district’s 8th school, and this has required the collective efforts of several folks, including the new principal. But much of my time this summer has been spent hiring teachers and new administrators. We are very fussy about our hiring process, and it consumes a lot of time: the recruitment, screening of hundreds of applications, lengthy interviews, reference checking, demonstration lessons, site visits, and final interviews in the central office all require the attention and time of principals and staff. But it is time well spent because the folks we hire will impact the education of our children in a big way and we need to get it right. Students don’t get a second chance at fifth grade if we aren’t choosy about whom we hire in the first place! Frankly, nothing is more important than hiring great people.

This summer I have also had the pleasure of observing our teachers in their summer coursework (summertime for good teachers always involves additional coursework, reading, and classroom organization), teaching in summer programs, and talking to me about their hopes and plans for next year and beyond. Indeed, the summer months are the time our teachers continue their learning and preparation for a fresh crop of students!

I have especially enjoyed connecting with individual School Committee members over a leisurely cup of coffee or lunch. Needham is fortunate to have seven School Committee members who are incredibly wise, talented, and hugely invested in and committed to the schools and their community. It’s always great to check in with them and learn about what is important to them as we work together to support teaching and learning.

I have not plowed through as many books as I would like (I never do), but I’ve finished a great little book edited by Houston, Blankstein, and Cole entitled Spirituality in Educational Leadership. No, it’s not a prayer book for superintendents (although that could sell well in my circles), but it is a series of articles from educators and researchers who posit that school administrators need to ensure schools are sanctuaries of learning and places where we encourage the development of good character and a sense of community. I’ve also managed to plow through a couple novels, including Grisham’s The Appeal, and am half way through Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. I admire Lincoln and think he was the greatest President to serve our nation. He was a brooding leader with a broad vision who realized we could not be two nations: one free and one slave. Instead, he fought for one union without slavery and paid with his life.

It’s been a good summer so far. And there is still time to get to the beach and enjoy my family before September 1st, the opening of a new school, and the start of a school year. Maybe I’ll even get one more Grisham in…

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Needham High School Graduation, 2009

Needham High School graduated 306 talented young men and women this past week in a ceremony marked by much ceremony, pomp, and circumstance. They were cheered on by a supportive community and excited parents who should all be immensely proud of their children and of themselves for achieving this milestone.

After being encouraged by some parents, I have decided to post the comments I shared with the members of the Needham High School Class of 2009:

Remember that your character matters.

Over the last 13 years you have been a student, immersed in academics, scholarship, and co-curricular activities. Today this community honors your academic success by awarding you a diploma signifying your preparation and growth. Indeed, this is the community’s annual celebration of student learning, excellence, and achievement.

While we celebrate your academic proficiency, I urge you to remember—your character matters. I believe, and I know I am not alone here, that while we have supported you and will continue to encourage the growth and development of your mind and body it has been critical to nurture your heart and spirit as well. Without character, it is unlikely you will use your mind and hands to expand your knowledge, enrich your learning, or serve others in a meaningful way. The good thing is I know you get this!

Each of you has wonderfully rich, personal gifts—good looks, intelligence, charm, and athletic and musical prowess. You have thus far demonstrated the ability to hit the books, tutor a kid, or score in overtime. To do so, you relied on teamwork, diligence, sportsmanship, personal responsibility—those attributes, that character, are the stuff of your success.

Can we engage in purposeful learning and be successful without character? Without a conscience? Can we master the technical details and use our accumulated knowledge and skills to advance? Well, sure. For a time. One only has to consider our current reality and understand that it was not a dearth of advanced degrees, technological savvy, or creative financing that resulted in the economic mess we now face; instead, at its root, laziness, imprudence, dishonesty, and greed drove planning and decision-making. It has been the absence of character, not a lack of knowledge, that has prevailed.

A high SAT score, a big win on the field, or the number of community service hours racked up may get us through the college gate but by themselves they cannot be the goal. In fact, these achievements are meaningless if, in the end, we do not have the strength of character to do the right thing, the just thing, the courageous thing, when called upon. I know your teachers have challenged you in the classroom, and I hope in the process they have encouraged respect, fairness, and honesty.

Because your character matters. And your parents and your teachers know this to be true.

Haim Ginot, a Holocaust survivor, wrote a chilling letter to teachers after he survived the horrors of the Nazis. He wrote:

“Dear Teacher… I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by university graduates.

So I am suspicious of education. My request is this: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.”

He concludes: “Reading, writing, and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make our children more humane.”

I would add that AP courses, varsity athletic letters, scholarships, first violin in the orchestra are all important, but only if they strengthen your understanding of yourself, of others, and provide you with the tools needed to make this a better world. It is hard work, patience, tolerance, integrity, caring, sacrifice, and for many of you your faith—in short, it is your character that will enable your continued growth and success.

Use your beautiful head to get the right answer. But draw on your character to do the right thing.

When things get tough, and they inevitably will, when you are all alone, and you most certainly will be, it is your inner strength, your depth of character that will allow you to accept fear with courage, defeat with grace, and success with humility.

Congratulations for demonstrating a commitment to learning. You would not be here this evening if you were unable to prove your worthiness in the classroom and within the school community. Remember it is your humanity, your character, that will sustain you and enrich a world that desperately needs your scholarship, service, and leadership.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

21st Century Learning

There has been a lot of talk in education circles these days about so-called 21st Century Skills. These skills have been described in various ways but common themes emerge: Promoting creativity, critical thinking and communication, developing social and emotional competence, supporting local and global awareness and citizenship, and increasing technological and media literacy. Although the tag “21st Century” suggests innovation, the reality is these skills and areas for learning and discovery have been around for a generation. Could it be, however, they are even more meaningful and essential today? As educators, we must consider a number of questions.

So what is forward thinking and new?

In 2009 we are more explicit and purposeful about what we believe is truly important for students to know and to be able to do. We are asking students to demonstrate proficiency rather than accumulate credit. When I attended high school in the 1970s it was sufficient to complete three years of a foreign language (in my case, German) and check that off the list of requirements. It did not matter as much that I had little facility for the language at the conclusion of my experience, despite the best efforts of Herr Grove.

In today’s classroom we recognize the importance of language fluency and that the development of linguistic, cultural, and social competence are critical skills for the language learner, especially in earlier grades when children are at the right developmental stage for acquiring these skills. And there seems to be an increasing awareness that having facility with different languages; understanding contemporary geo-politics, including religious traditions, economic issues, and security concerns; and learning about history, literature, music, and art from a variety of perspectives and cultures are as critical to the success of the individual learner as they are to our nation's future.

Additionally, educators today, including in the Needham Public Schools, are focused on ensuring all students, not just those in certain schools, classes, or on the honors track, can demonstrate their proficiency in these and other skills. It is crucial, for example, that all students learn how to write and communicate effectively and with purpose. In the good old days of the 20th Century it was not a given that we would prepare all children for continued and lifelong learning.

Skills or content: What is more important?

What has gotten confusing, at least to me, about the discussion around 21st Century Skills is whether or not skills or content are more important to a student’s success. Some argue that skills must be taught at the expense of deep academic content because the skills will endure and, besides, information is ever changing. Just google it if you need to know! Others worry that without rich curriculum students may appear engaged but have little understanding of the world around them. How can one be a critical thinker if one does not have some thing to think or talk about?

I believe skills without content (or content without skills) do little to inform, enrich, and enliven the educational experience of a young person and, in fact, put the student at a disadvantage in an ever-connected and global community where knowledge, information, and context are essential. For example, how could students studying wetlands ecosystems present a worthwhile written and oral report to a science class or the community’s Conservation Commission (skill) without knowing key biology concepts such as pH, acidic and basic compounds, and light sources (content)? In this case, content is the substance of the skills demonstrated, and the demonstration of these skills in this setting assists in the understanding and meaning of the content.

How can skills and content be balanced in a way that strengthens student learning?

Ensuring our students have multiple opportunities to learn about our country’s history, for example, through classroom discussion and readings is critical to their development of vocabulary and historical meaning. Then, asking students to interview veterans about their experience or great grandparents about the Depression promotes communication, listening, and social skills while it also fills in the blank spaces or enriches what could otherwise be a staid classroom learning experience. Indeed, the classroom/teacher talk/content supports the interview/conversation/probing in this learning paradigm. One complements the other and both enrich the learning of the student and (bonus here!) the senior citizen.

Even better: Student chronicles the interviews in a journal to be exhibited in the town’s library or broadcasts them online. The student even presents his research at a meeting of the Council on Aging. More skill building here and the learning is shared with the local and global community using 21st Century technology tools.

The Needham Public Schools are committed to working towards the development of 21st Century skills and content for all students. And we will base our work on the district’s four core values: Scholarship (Learning), Community (Working together), Citizenship (Contributing), and Personal Growth (Acting courageously). I welcome your comments and suggestions as we move forward together to provide an exceptional educational experience for the best students around.