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BEST PRACTICES
Differentiated instruction
Evidence-based practices
data-driven decision-making
Relational trust
Close achievement gaps
Professional development
Turnarounds
Collaboration
This Applies to Charters Too Personnel Policy
Given freedom to craft “agreements from scratch,” charters are “not as innovative as they might be” when it comes to evaluation, staffing, and compensation. – Mitch Price, Center on Reinventing Public Education
Teacher Certification“Charters can get caught up in the same regulations [as district schools]. When you talk about highly qualified teachers, for example, art and drama teachers are included. So we could get Peter Nero from the Philly Pops to come teach a music class, but he’s not certified—so we’re not allowed.” – David Hardy, CEO of Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School
The Hassle Factor“It’s hard to manage the voluminous requests made by OSSE and still have time to run a school . . . OSSE has fifty, sixty, maybe seventy people sending e-mails. We had to hire a general counsel specializing in special education just to respond and force OSSE to [back off]…They may not like being challenged, but it’s been necessary to maintain Friendship’s independence.” – Donald Hense, Friendship Public Charter School, Washington, DC
What Ed Leadership Experts Write About
Colla
bora
tion
Prof
essio
nal D
evel
op...
Cultu
re
Regul
atio
n
Lice
nsur
e
Negot
iatio
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Layo
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Note: Combined mentions of these terms in Educational Leadership and Phi Delta Kappan from January 2009 to September 2012. Searches were performed using an in-text search.
Not Only Is the Cage Ignored…
Leading books on education leadership that never mention “union contract” or “collective bargaining.” What’s Worth Fighting For in the Principalship, Michael Fullan School Leadership That Works, Robert Marzano, Timothy Waters, and
Brian McNulty Rethinking Leadership, Thomas Sergiovanni The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook, Kent Peterson and Terrence
Deal Change Leader, Michael Fullan Leaders of Learning, Richard Dufour and Robert Marzano. What Great Principals Do Differently, Todd Whitaker Strengthening the Heartbeat, Thomas Sergiovanni Shaping School Culture, Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson Leading with Soul, Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal Reframing the Path to School Leadership, Lee Bolman and Terrence
Deal
Searches in this section were performed in May 2012 using the in-text search feature on Amazon.com.
…But Cage-Busting Is Often Belittled
“The worst thing to do is to write off apparently poor or mediocre teachers as dead wood, and seek easy administrative solutions in transfers or retirements.” – Fullan and Hargreaves, What’s Worth Fighting for in Your School
“Running a tight ship” is a “distortion of the goal of educating children.” – Drake and Roe, The Principalship
“Combin[ing] reform with major changes in the structure of the organization . . . is almost always a mistake.” – Ben Levin, How to Change 5000 Schools
Rethinking Money
Average teacher is absent 8 days per year
Cost per substitute teacher $125 per day
Cost per FTE per year $1,000 per FTE
(plus 8 days of lost learning…)
Too Many Charters Choose To Stay in the Cage
Despite the chance “to craft agreements from scratch…charter school contracts look quite similar to their district counterparts.” – Mitch Price, Center on Reinventing Public Education
The role of charter principals “ was not significantly different” from that of district principals. – National Center on School Choice, Vanderbilt University
2010 study found that most charters hire and pay staff much as local districts do. – Dana Brinson and Jacob Rosch, Public Impact
Cage Bar Continuum
Things you can
already do
Things you can
do if you’re a
little creative
Things you can do if you alter little p policies
Things that you can do
only if you change big P
policies
Authorizers Need to Break Out of the Cage, Too
Be Precise“Sponsoring agencies, in general, required assessment
information on performance from charter schools… but often failed to specify any clear performance standards or consequences” - Wohlstetter & Griffin
Do More to Empower Educators“We need to do more things to empower passionate
educators [and] allow them to be successful in their schools, whether it’s a district school or a charter school. When we do that, we’ll have more good schools for kids.” - Greg Richmond
Think Outside the Cage“A quality authorizer is open to considering diverse
educational philosophies and approaches.” – NACSA Principles and Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing
“Reforms” Hit a Leadership Wall… Yet the Wall is Rarely
Examined Training &
socialization
Incentives & accountability
Culture, norms & practices
Advice for Cage-Busters
Cage-busting is not cage-fighting
Cage-busting is a complement, not a substitute
John Henry is not a role model
You don’t have to be a martyr