Inspired, sad and inspired

My day. I woke up at 5:45am to walk 10 minutes to John O'Connell High School in the Mission. SFUSD is holding their annual administrators' kickoff meetings there for the next two days, and I went to attend and help my friend Christopher (who helped plan the event) to set up. I'm going to wait until later to describe everything that I learned, but during the course of the event I...

- Listened to presentations from the Superintendent and Deputy "supe" on how our central office reorganization matters for teachers and principals (which, from the outside probably seems like a dull topic, but believe me it's a massive undertaking and one that requires the deftest of political touches).

- Participated in a kickoff for the "Mission Superintendent's Zone" (more on this below)

- Attended small group sessions on the new SFUSD school choice formula (which will be formally proposed in the next month or so), restorative justice, and 21st century learning.

I ducked out of the conference around 3:30 because it was a gorgeous day (which are few and far between in SF) to go on a quick bike ride and work out. I then went to dinner and my first ever book club with 5 other Ed Pioneers. We read a book by Lisa Delpit called Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. The book is essentially about how cultural differences matter in instructional settings. For example, mostly white, well-meaning teachers who have liberal teaching philosophies such as "let the kids find themselves" and "just write creatively" often miss what black students need Whereas white students will respond to "question commands" such as "don't you think you need to take a nap now?", black students are confused by this language; the black students respond to the direct language of "take a nap - now." Another example is how the author observed in Alaska that native students were getting lower grades on their essays. Teachers docked the students points because stories were rambling messes. The cultural misunderstanding is that, in native Alaskan cultures, stories are meant to go on and on; stories are meant to be told so they have no ending (the philosophy being that life has no ending, so the stories should have no ending). There are no easy solutions to these disconnects, and to be honest there is no way to say exactly how often these instances occur.

Anyway, around the table were an MBA student from Columbia, MBA student from Berkeley, MBA student from Yale, education PhD student from Berkeley, and an ex-teacher and education master's student from Stanford.

After book club we went to see the movie The Lottery, where we predictably saw other current Ed Pioneers, alumni, and staff. The Ed world is a very, very connected community. I recommend the movie. It's about the NYC lottery for kids who want to get into a public charter school and the crazy political fight between the teachers unions, elected officials, charter schools, and parents. There's another upcoming movie called Waiting for Superman that is in the same vein as The Lottery.

Here's the good stuff...

The day was inspiring on many levels. Being surrounded by SFUSD principals and central office staff - it just feels like home. Granted, I still feel like a bit of an outsider because I haven't been a teacher. Most, if not all principals and superintendents have been teachers for a significant amount of time.

I often get asked "why does an MBA want to go into education? How does having an MBA help you run a school system?" To be honest, before this summer I was clear on my answer to the first question, but hazy on the second. After working with the Assistant Supes and other administrators for over a month, I can say that this is - more than anything - a management job. Our Deputy Superintendent, who I'm a big fan of, is at heart a very, very good leader through being a communicator, bringing clarity to vision, and playing the politics necessary to get things (ANYthing) done. Granted, he is first a teacher and a principal, and his credibility comes from having done those jobs for a long time. But, I am beginning to see my role in a public school system as a manager and leader. There is, without a doubt, a use for my skills. Is there a compelling reason that most school administrators are ex-teachers? Yes, there is - because the content of education is teaching, and that requires teaching experience; one cannot learn the true nature of teaching without being in the classroom. But, there is no reason why management skills (indeed, leadership skills) can't be brought to bear in education and co-exist with instructional expertise.

This is all a very longwinded way of saying that I can see my role much more clearly, and I'm inspired by these people. I sat in on the kickoff meeting for the "Mission Superintendent Zone" at the conference today. The Zone is basically a group of schools from the Mission District in SF that are chronically underperforming because of the inputs to the schools (english language learners, troubled homes, etc.). Thus, the Zone was created to give this area some special attention. I introduced myself in the ice-breaking exercise. Here's the gist of what I said:

I'm Dave. I'm getting my MBA at Duke and am here working with the central office on a dashboard that will give the Assistant Supes and Principals interim insight into how their schools are performing (nodding heads of encouragement). Why am I here? I'm here because I love being around people who talk about "purpose" and "mission" when they're asked "why do you do what you do?" For me, this summer, and being around these people, has been a gamechanger. It's not typical that an MBA goes into education, but when I go back to Duke in a month, I want to recruit my fellow MBAs to come work in public education like I've done. I honestly can't wait to go back and do this, because I think there are a lot of people who want to do what I've done, but just don't "see it" yet. Thanks for letting me be part of this.

Now, "solving" education is an incredibly complex set of problems, and I don't pretend that everyone in education is as motivated and competent as the people I met today. But I'm still inspired. I'm inspired by the people in education. But I'm equally as inspired by my cohort of Education Pioneers. Why? Because we're good. There is no reason why the education system shouldn't be screaming for MBAs, public policy, law, etc. graduates to come into the system in droves. I've been blessed to have met some extremely motivated, dynamic, etc. people in my life, and my cohort in the Bay Area are right at the top. 75% of us will go full-time into the education world. There are 300 of us nationwide this year (and over 900 alumni), and we're growing. And we're motivated for the right reasons. It is indeed sad to watch films like The Lottery - to be rooting for a kid to get into the school his parents see as giving their child the best chance for success - and to be disappointed.

I've been thinking a lot recently about not just what I know, but what I believe. I believe that our kids deserve better. They deserve to have quality options on where they go to school. I believe that it is simply not right (American?) that a kid is destined to go to an awful school just because that's the way it is.

Anyway, that's my rant. I'm curious to see where all of this takes me.