It has been hard to focus on education with all the concerns about safety taking place in our schools and communities lately. School leaders have really found themselves between the “Scylla and Charybdis” when it comes to decisions on weapons and drugs as applied to the young people in our schools. Conversations with parents that touch upon both Second Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights have somehow found their way into to the daily norm of school dialog and the questions concerning how best to prepare our young people for learning have been pushed to the back burner. As this is an “educational blog”, I don’t believe this is the forum for discussions concerning those constitutional rights unless actions related to those rights can be worked into the purpose of schools. If we agree with Linda Darling-Hammond that the purpose of public education has shifted to “preparing students to work at jobs that do not yet exist, creating ideas and solutions for products and problems that have not yet been identified, using technologies that have not yet been invented” (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 2), then I think that is where we, as educators, need to be sure to ask ourselves three questions. When we answer to the affirmative for any of the the three questions we should then move forward and if we answer in the negative for all three we should move on.
“How does this nurture a student's ability to learn?”
In my mind, this is the most important question to ask when it comes to resources such as time and money. I have often stated that in schools, “time is currency” and how we have our young people spend their time demonstrates what we value most just as much as how we spend our money. I do realize this is not a straight up “yes” or “no” question but we should be able to perceive the general trend from our answer to this question.
“Will this promote teacher growth?”
“The single most important influence on student learning is the quality of teaching” (McNulty & Besser, 2011, p.44), so it is important to be sure that the decisions we make, at minimum, do not negatively impact teachers, but ideally should lead to opportunities for growth. (see also “The Red Queen Effect”)
“Does this lead to school improvement?”
Typically, when I am referencing school improvement it is in relation to improving the culture of the school. A strong culture is supported by a strong vision (see also Value of a Shared Vision), such as supporting the vision for “Schools as a Greenhouse”. There are many decisions educators, both in and out of the classroom, must make that can positively or negatively impact the culture of the school. If we are not clear on the vision of the school, those decisions which are not aligned with the vision could slowly undermine the culture of the schools.
Of course these three questions are not the end all be all, but I believe they are three questions we should always ask when making decisions about schools. When most people read the term resolution they envision “solving a problem”, but as a Biology teacher the term resolution to me connotes “the ability to see more clearly” (think microscope resolution). So, with that definition of resolution in mind, I would like to propose that dilemmas which educators face today from arming teachers, to drug testing students, to pedagogical decisions within the classroom can all be viewed with a little better resolution through the lens of these three questions.
References
Darling-Hammond, Linda (2010). The Flat World and Education. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
McNulty, B. & Besser, L. (2011). Leaders make it happen. Englewood, CO:
Leadership and Learning Center.
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