Well, California is measuring schools as organizations, not as Mrs. When I was a teacher, I could go to my classroom, shut my door, and basically isolate myself from the rest of the staff. And one of the issues that we face as a profession is that, for years, we’ve been in an individualized modality. Muhammad: Well, what can’t be missed is that the first step is to establish what the school’s collective purpose is. So when I work with a school long-term, we lay all that stuff on the table, and develop ways for teachers and administrators to have consistent dialog around tough issues to find resolutions rather than relief.ĮdSource: But how do you start a dialogue with, say, a teacher who’s been a third-grade teacher for 20 years and doesn’t feel understood or appreciated?
It’s not that some of those issues aren’t legitimate. What I’ve found is that when people get frustrated in an improvement process, they tend to gravitate to other people who share those kinds of frustrations, and cliques, subcultures and schisms start to develop in the organization. The second major piece was to improve communication between the classrooms and leadership. Muhammad: It started with, from the leadership perspective, involving the teachers and the community in developing what we call ‘collective purpose’: What are we trying to accomplish? Debra Colvard, the principal, was convinced that they had all the right technical mechanisms, such as instructional tools, in place, and that the issue was trying to get the people to actually use them. And just last year, they became an 800 API (Academic Performance Index test score) scho ol. Muhammad: One of the schools I’ve work with is Martin Luther King Elementary School in the Central Valley, in Hanford, which, when we started with them about four to five years ago, was a Program Improvement school.
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Without leadership that has an understanding of emotional intelligence, and how to motivate and cultivate people, we’re going to get results like we’ve gotten over the last 15 to 20 years – a huge investment in the nonhuman parts of the organization, with little to no results.ĮdSource: How do you suggest school leaders motivate teachers, staff and each other? Many people are excited about new possibilities, but some might say, “Oh, yet another effort to reform.” What would you say is needed to make these new efforts effective?Īnthony Muhammad: My message to legislators would be that reform takes time, it’s multifaceted and one of the biggest parts they’ve missed is that systems and leaders have to know how to develop people. At the same time, Common Core State Standards are being introduced. Excerpts of the interview are below.ĮdSource: As you know, California is in the midst of a momentous change in how it funds education, with more money intended to go to schools that have a high concentration of kids with low incomes. Muhammad talked to EdSource by phone from Michigan about school reform, “toxic” school cultures and how administrators and teachers can have tough conversations. Elementary School in Hanford, and the Santa Clara County Office of Education. A former teacher and middle school principal, he is the co-author of “The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level” and the author of “Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division.” He has presented his work on creating healthy school cultures to improve student achievement to many schools, districts and educational organizations, including Vallejo City Unified School District, Region 4 of the California Regional System of District and School Support, Martin Luther King Jr. Muhammad grew up in Flint, Mich., where he said he learned first-hand how teachers can subtly encourage or discourage their students. Eyes on the Early Years Newsletter ArchiveĪnthony Muhammad, author of The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Levelįor Anthony Muhammad, a widely recognized expert on school culture, the success of California’s big push to improve public schools rests on the ability of administrators and teachers to put aside blame, learn to talk to each other and work together to support their belief that every student can be successful – which is his definition of a healthy school culture.Local Control Funding Formula Explained.California’s Homeless Students: Undercounted, Underfunded And Growing.
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