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Joellen Kriss

Several of Region's High-Profile Private Schools Are Changing Leadership - washingtonpo... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009092001805.html

Independent Schools Head of School Superintendent Search

shared by Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This notes the shift and commercialization of schooling. "Heads of School" in any situation, private or public, have to be super human in their ability to do everything. They have to please everyone, and do it all with a smile.
  • In the past, school heads could luxuriate in a Mr. Chips-like existence, focusing primarily on education. Today, they have to be schmoozers who raise funds to pay for costly programs, construction titans who dream up new facilities, and managerial stars who keep students, parents, alumni and teachers mixing smoothly.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      These are the people that hire the teachers that teach the chilrden. It's an interesting cause and effect kind of relationship: people are less willing to leave their old jobs because they can't hire their own kind of people in the next position, meaning the job will be harder and less of their own. It adds a whole additional dynamic.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • One of the fastest ways that heads put their mark on a school is with the people they hire,
  • making teachers slower to retire and less likely to shift jobs, and also making it harder to lead a school than in the past.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      See previous Sticky Note
  • candidates who have already headed other schools remain in short supply
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This is a really interesting statement and 100% true. School culture after a while becomes a given, so when a new head of school, whether they be of a private school or the superintendent of a public school district, comes in, that hiring board (of directors or of education) needs to now put it out on the table and naturally, things are reassessed in some way. It's kind of a thought provolking idea.
  • "A lot of what has been implicit in school culture has to become explicit" when the schools start meeting candidates,
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      Holy Moly.
  • Branch's total compensation from Georgetown Day, including benefits and expenses, was $442,097 for the year that ended in June 2008. At Bullis, Farquhar's total compensation including benefits and expenses was $336,222. Total compensation for public school superintendents in the Washington region, including benefits and perks, averaged $350,078 in fiscal 2007-08, according to a 2007 Washington Post analysis.
  • Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
     
    This Washington Post article talks about the competative hiring market for heads of private schools in the DC area, but also raises some interesting points about school culture in the process.
Erin Power

Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Mo... - 1 views

www.ed.gov/...09242009.html

Education Policy Duncan

shared by Erin Power on 27 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      What a conundrum this is...
  • People want support from Washington but not interference. They want accountability but not oversight. They want national leadership but not at the expense of local control.
  • And now that I'm here I'm even more convinced that the best solutions begin with parents and teachers working together in the home and the classroom.
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded.
  • And many parents just view it as a toxic brand that isn't helping children learn.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      I like how he/his speech writers recognize here that schooling is something that belongs to the states. It seems like he's saying that the federal government is just stepping in for a moment, until things start going well.
  • Until states develop better assessments—which we will support and fund through Race to the Top—we must rely on standardized tests to monitor progress—but this is an important area for reform and an important conversation to have.
  • it places too much emphasis on absolute test scores rather than student growth—and it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      SUPER DUPER BINGO! NCLB encourages hig TESTING standards, but not LEARNING standards!! Good for you Arne (that's what he wants his staff to call him...in case you didn't know.)
  • NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when, in fact, they are not.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      This is one of the issues in my practicum schools and one of the big debates there right now.
  • They are simply not ready for college-level work when they leave high school.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      ...because the goals are and always have been, decent, but the means, are and always have been, bad (to keep it clean.)
  • In my view, we should be tight on the goals—with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers—but we should be loose on the means for meeting those goals.
  • We don't believe that local educators need a prescription for success. But they do need a common definition of success—focused on student achievement, high school graduation and success and attainment in college.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      But do they really?
  • Before we do, however, we want to hear from you. We want your input.
  • We don't need another study. We must stop simply admiring the problem. We need action.
  • And so the work of reauthorizing ESEA begins in states and districts across America—among educators and policy makers, parents and community leaders. This work is as urgent as it is important.
  • And yet we are still waiting for the day when every child in America has a high quality education that prepares him or her for the future.
  • Our shared goals are clear: higher quality schools; improved student achievement; more students going to college; closing the achievement gap; and more opportunities for children to learn and succeed.
  • Let's build a law that respects the honored, noble status of educators—who should be valued as skilled professionals rather than mere practitioners and compensated accordingly.
  • Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
     
    Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's speech at the Monthly Stakeholders meeting this past week. It's a part of a series of town hall style meetings that the secretary is holding with those who have a stake in the policy they will be shaping: teachers, parents and others. The speech is interesting mostly because, what he's calling for sounds great to me, but I wonder if there's any possibility of anything this reasonable ever happening. Secretary Duncan seems like an ok guy (didn't know he is a former superintendent) but I still wonder what the next big thing is going to turn out to be and how/if it's going to help.
  • Erin Power on 05 Oct 09
     
    The Duncan speech we were talking about in class
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