Two Contrasting Articles

Educational policy doesn't get much play in the media lately, but two articles in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel caught my attention.

The first, an article that claims that the drop in suspension rates is to blame for a perceived drop in classroom safety.
The second, an article about the promises of character education in schools.

I offer two pieces of advice:
• Don't confuse correlation with causation
• A rising tide lifts all boats

The first article, about suspension rates, claims that "the increasing hesitancy of schools to utilize discipline is having a negative effect on the learning environment" and "the rapid drop in suspension rates has also raised safety concerns".  The article blames the drop in suspension rates on political structures.  Correlation is not causation.

This take on suspension rates ignores the idea that hardworking educators are finding new and better ways to build relationships and communicate with students and families on an ongoing basis.  Ideas such as culturally-responsive teaching, trauma-informed teaching, and equity have found center stage.  Does that mean we don't deal appropriately with extreme misbehavior when we see it?  Absolutely not.  But it also means we care at least as much about the antecedent as we do the behavior and the consequence.

The second article is about the need for character education in all schools.  My favorite line:
"Drilling the multiplication tables will not help lonely, desperate children or develop a world-class workforce.  What we need to do is encourage character where it exists and grow it where it is lacking".  Educators work hard to create a common language about academic outcomes.  We fall flat when trying to speak a common vocabulary about the character outcomes we expect.  But it's not impossible.  A rising tide lifts all boats!  Our efforts at character education proactively benefit every student.

We must ask ourselves:  Do we face a "character gap"?  And if so, how does it relate to the "achievement gap"?  These have become color-blind, poverty-blind, ability-blind questions.
Discipline?  Yes.  Character?  Yes.  Achievement?  Yes.
Which of those do you think is the starting point for long-term student success?

The Challenge of Change

This past week, I spent a lot of time in conversations about change.

Wednesday - a staff meeting about report cards and complex change.

Wednesday - two meetings to try and get our PTO off the ground.

Thursday - RtI meetings focused on changing the way we use data to guide interventions.

Thursday night - panel presentation on Personalizing/Project Based Learning.

Friday - PD conversations about what we want learning to look like in 3 years.

And those are just the big ones in three days last week.  Really, every conversation I have seems to be a change conversation, right down to the hallway conversations with students about behavior.  

There are people who enjoy change.  But most don't like to admit it.

I'll own up to it right now.  I enjoy change.  I thrive on change.  

Here's the problem that I've realized about enjoying change, and maybe those of you who like change have realized this about yourself as well:

People who like change see themselves as optimists, 

but most other people view them as pessimists.

Why?  Because when you like change, you see possibilities everywhere, even when things are going well.  But some others will look at you and see a person who is never satisfied.

It's something I've tried to be keenly aware of as a leader.

Being aware of ourselves and our perceptions is key to working together as a team.

~~~

Speaking of change, a new iPhone just came out.  That makes me think of a great post by David Jakes.  (Mr. Jakes is a solid voice in the area for design thinking and innovation in schools, and some of his local clients include Racine and New Berlin.)  It was an innovative process that brought the iPhone to dominance.  But the money line is this:  "No one stands in line in the rain for the process." Ultimately, innovation leads to a product.  Our product is a re-imagined learning experience.  That's what we're building, and it makes all the changes worthwhile.