Dive Brief:
- When Chris Marczak became superintendent of the Maury County School District last August, he did a listening tour with all 22 schools, as well as parent and community stakeholders, to develop shared goals for students.
- Marczak writes for eSchool News that the seven Keys to Success developed as a result include students meeting reading and math proficiency goals by third, sixth and eighth grade; achieving ACT college readiness benchmarks and financial literacy by graduation; and participating in advanced placement, dual enrollment, industry certification, work-based learning or military prep by graduation.
- While the goals were set by administrators, schools were given the freedom to work toward them in their own way, and 96 existing teachers became instructional coaches to support ongoing training.
Dive Insight:
Marczak calls his approach top-down, district-level, but he says it gained bottom-up buy-in. The reason this is true is because he incorporated so much input from teachers at every school, as well as stakeholders at every level of the organization and throughout the community. When district-level initiatives can be developed with insights from all corners, they are much more likely to be a success because they capitalize on the intelligence and experience of many more people.
The last 15 years of education reform have been marked by a top-down style of leadership, and it has had a negative impact on classroom teachers and their profession. A recent report from the Center on Education Policy found low morale among teachers in general, but those who feel like they have a stake in decision-making are more likely to be happy with their jobs.