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Re: [Phys-l] How Much Value is Added at Elite Institutions -Response to Haim #2




On Jan 28, 2011, at 10:08 PM, Robert Cohen wrote:

So there *is* a solution, then? The solution doesn't involve replacing the teachers. It doesn't involve vouchers. It doesn't involve money or smaller classes.

All we need is a very good principal?

The principal is the most important cog in running a good school. The conditions are : a) the principal is backed up by central administration; b) (s)he has or can establish rapport with the community, and c) is respected by the students and teachers. The person I described in the previous post had all of those traits until he ruffled someone's feathers downtown after years of running a decent environment. I don't know exactly what happened downtown, but all it took was one or a small number of muckedy-mucks to destroy what was a decent school in a rotten inner city district.

That most of the teachers respected him is evident because in the previous position as assistant principal, he along with a respected newly appointed principal (strict, yet well connected and respected downtown) straightened out another school that had been completely demoralized, having gone through three principals in two years, walkouts, fights, and riots. In a year the two of them turned that school around. He transferred to my school and within a year had made substantial progress in turning this school around also.
So, yes, the principal is the most important person in running a decent school. (with those conditions I mentioned earlier)

Check out what happened in South Philadelphia High School last year. Asian students were being beaten up by mobs of other students, discipline was zero, the principal was totally disrespected and useless, and the place was completely in ruins. After some hard work on the part of the Asian community the principal was replaced. (It was discovered that this person didn't have her principal's certification and had been let go by her previous district for lack of control) The new man has worked hard to establish some sort of discipline; he replaced a large proportion of the staff this year; fighting is down. Yes, scores are still very low, but the place has a chance of turning around. The students are the same, half the teachers are the same, yet the principal is trying to make a difference. PROVIDED the superintendent (who is not very well regarded by many people in city hall and by quite a few in the community) doesn't screw it all up by shifting it all around again next year.

Which brings me to another point... the central leadership (superintendent and his/her central staff) must be competent in running a district and not just a cheerleader or a bean-counter. This person must be fair and smart: this means ability to steer a district fiscally, staff it with good people not appointed by racial preferences, let the good people do their jobs with little interference in everyday affairs, be quick to respond to community fears and communicate with the community (all of it, not just the majority groups), and show transparency in the day-to-day activities (money, staffing, and policy).




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