Mission Possible

What is a mission statement?  A mission statement is specifically the purpose or reason for being an organization.  For example, Audi USA, (a car manufacturer from Germany) states on their website that their ethos (guiding character), and core belief is “progress toward technology”.  Audi cars are well known for the extreme amount of technology they put into their vehicles and especially their prowess in developing four-wheel or all-wheel drive systems.  Reliability of the technology is another issue, but Audi’s focus is not on reliability as much as progressing forward by building the technology.  Mission statements hold much more than simple words; they are the statements that everything else is anchored to.

The mission statement of the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District is this: “To provide quality education and create a learning environment that engages all students in lifelong learning for an ever changing world”.  This is actually one of the things that I ruminated about for some time before actually applying for the principal’s position here.  I thought to myself – wow, that is a huge undertaking and I wonder how many people think regularly about that mission.  This mission helps me make decisions about things almost every day and will help me make decisions in the near future when thinking about next year. Just from what I have observed, I think there are some areas that need realignment to connect back to the mission of ACV.  Before those decisions are made however, let’s unpack my thinking into this mission statement.

There are three separate action statements in this mission.  The first is to provide a quality education.  How would you describe a quality education?  I describe it as one that deals more with teachers, curriculum, and delivery systems or instruction than students themselves.  I will blog more about teachers another time, but for the purpose of this blog, I want to make it clear that I feel as Mike Schmoker does when he stated “No educational innovation, no new teaching tool, method, product, or other “proven” program holds a candle to the effect of traditional, reasonably well executed lessons” (Schmoker 2011).  The teacher matters more than anything else if providing a quality education is part of the mission.  This is why hiring, supporting and developing teachers is so very important.  The curriculum in this school was “mapped” sometime last year.  Does this mean it will assist in providing a quality education?  No!  There is still much work to do in regard to measuring the curriculum with the new PA Common Core standards and then articulating those standards into our everyday teaching.  Remembering that there is a written curriculum, a taught curriculum, and a learned curriculum, I would say the learned curriculum is what we must hold as our measure of the quality of education we are providing.  This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

The second and third action statements are creating a learning environment and engaging all students.  These two actions are almost inseparable.  I have stated in the previous blog about my commitment to reading, writing, discussion, and thinking critically about those things.  In my opinion, these things are necessary components of an environment that emphasizes learning.  Lectures, worksheets, and silly activities that are not tied to learning goals do not provide an environment in which students really learn.  They rely on memorization and low-level performance.  An example of a low-level performance activity that is engaging, but if done poorly, can be a waste of good instructional time is PowerPoint creations.  Many PowerPoint presentations look exactly the same from sixth grade through twelfth with only the addition of sounds, fancy slide intros, and colorful backgrounds.  I ask this question - how many times, as an adult, have you been asked to provide a PowerPoint to demonstrate your ability at your job?  Have you been asked to go to a friend’s house for cards and a fancy PowerPoint presentation of their last vacation?  Probably not!  Reading, writing, and discussion on a deeper level not only emphasize high levels of learning, they are actually engaging in ways in which we will use as adults. Our students will not just be covering content but will be asked to think critically about and interact with the knowledge being discussed.  Ask yourself this, how often have you had to think critically about whether you could afford to buy a new car? What kind of car? How does it compare to others of its class?  How reliable is the car?  We use these skills every day as adults and our students should be doing the same.  High engagement in activities that emphasize learning meet the criteria for a mission worthy of our schools.

A mission statement is absolutely critical for the success or failure of any learning institution.  Our school district came up with a dandy that hits a chord with me and helps me make decisions on a daily basis.  I continually ask myself how a decision I am about to make supports our mission. Only by sticking to the mission will we ever be able to amp up what we do, and have a positive impact our children. It is certainly a mission that will prepare our children for an ever-changing world and I am proud to be part of this mission and district.

Keystones to Opportunity and Literacy

Today is the official kick-off of the KtO (Keystones to Opportunity) grant in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District.  This grant is a huge opportunity for this district by focusing on the one thing that drives my passion and fits very well with the mission of our district, which is “to provide a quality education and create a learning environment that engages all students in lifelong learning for an ever changing world”.  A big question that came up the other day during discussions with teachers was “how is this grant any different from other grants?”  Good question!  Let me take a few lines to explain.

This grant differs from others grants that have been given throughout the state in many different ways, but I would like to highlight a couple glaring ones.   A few years ago, a huge amount of money was put out in grants called Classrooms For the Future (CFF).  The particular aim of this grant was to get computers in the hands of students to enhance 21^st century learning skills.  Professional development for the CFF grant was limited to getting teachers proficient with the computers so they could teach the students to become proficient as well.  We all know that many students already had very good skills with computers, in fact, better than many of those trying to teach them.  The downside of the CFF grant was that it took focus away from what is necessary for every student, the ability to read, comprehend and think critically.  The CFF grant, in my humble opinion, did little to enhance those critical skills and in fact probably lessened progress toward them.  Just having technology does not provide a high quality education that engages our students for life-long learning.  Just being proficient with the programs on a computer does not make a student proficient in the skills of the 21^st century.  The core skills that will make students successful continue to be concentrated on literacy.  The KtO grant can build upon our mission to provide that quality education by focusing on literacy as its foundation. 

This KtO grant is all about literacy.  Literacy is defined here as having the skill (or developing the skill) to be able to read, write, comprehend and thoroughly discuss the content with which we are working.  A school that focuses on literacy puts a hold on memorization and instant recall.  From what I know, the only place you are truly successful in life using the powers of instant recall is the game show Jeopardy.  As adults, we use reading, writing and critical thinking skills every day.  I have spoken in my previous blog to the need to read and think when learning new hobbies.  I personally enjoy discussions with people when they are well informed and speak with authority about a subject.  This KtO grant holds those skills as paramount to good education.  It will provide teachers with the professional development to infuse literacy based practices into their instruction because literacy skills do not come naturally and need to be practiced every period of every day.  The grant will help the district to purchase newer technologies to “assist” and support literacy content.  By purchasing tablets and e-readers, students can explore content to become the authority on the topic being discussed and read and think about it in depth.  Finally, this grant has a clear focus on gathering data to ensure that teachers are teaching with literacy as a focus and with student results as the evidence of growth.  We have to have prove that we are doing this effective.

I would also like to clarify what my “passion” in education is all about and why I think this grant fits well with my belief system.  I am a huge believer in the power and abilities within our children.  I think there are unlocked talents with each and every one that walks down our halls.  I say unlocked because in my estimation, some have difficulty reading and writing, and for sure, many have difficulty discussing with authority the content of what they read.  I was a good reader.  I thank my grandmother every day for emphasizing the need to read and God’s gift to me to have the ability to learn easily.  My grandmother also had many in-depth discussions with me about everything from the Pirates, to raising chickens and planting gardens.  Her favorite books were always the Reader’s Digest and of course the Bible.  Many students today do not have that support system either at home or surprisingly, at school.  Even if they are “good” readers, school is so focused on testing and covering content, we forget to take time to really discuss and build evidence for our belief systems and think critically about what we are reading about.  I personally feel that it is a major component of my job here at ACV to stay focused on our mission of providing a quality education and doing it through the vision of literacy at its core.

I am very excited to be a part of seeing this grant through to its completion.  I firmly believe it can provide our teachers with the tools they need to teach their content in a literacy-based environment and unlock the hidden talents and potential of our students.  It can change the very nature of how we educate our students with lasting impact.  Get ready to soar ACV Falcons!  Remember - our KtO is kicking off tonight and I hope to see you all there.

Introductions and Such

As the tagline for this blog states, it is a device that serves multiple purposes.  As the new principal at the Allegheny-Clarion Valley High School, it is important for me to continually think about the decisions and actions I take because the impact upon the students and families of this district can be huge.  I would like to use this blog as a tool to communicate my thinking in regards to initiatives, purposes, beliefs and philosophies in the educational realm, as well as build a basis or understanding about the actions I may take in this position.

First let me introduce who I am.  My name is Bill Jordan.  I have been in administration now going into my fourth year.  I previously held the principal’s position at the East Forest School in Marienville, PA.  Prior to being a principal, I was a teacher at the Keystone High School.  My goal when I went to school at Clarion University was to become a principal from the very beginning.  Not that I did not enjoy teaching!  I still believe that I am a teacher (teacher of teachers if you like).  I really wanted to have an effect on the greatest amount of students possible and the position of principal fills that role.  In this position, I am able to support an educational environment that is student centered and focused on unleashing the potentiality of the child.  I can share dozens of examples of people that were viewed as losers, do-nothings and who many thought would amount to nothing in high school but who turned their lives around because of a single impetus and became successful.  I want to try and uncover that impetus, that one thing that stimulates the mind into action.

If you ever sit down and speak with me about education, you cannot leave the discussion without the term literacy coming up at some point.  I think that is why I am a good fit for this district at this time.  It is my core philosophical belief that any success in life comes from being able to read, think critically about what you have read, and make informed decisions.  As adults we all do this on a regular basis.  For example, I enjoy growing things.  Besides a garden, like many in this area, I have raspberries, grapes, strawberries, cherry trees, and other various plants and trees.  If you have grown anything, you know that they can become diseased easily or have a multitude of things that can impact growth or production.  The ability to research, read, comprehend and make critical decisions can result in either fixing the issue or making it much, much worse.  The same can be said for any hobby you may undertake, project you may want to do or in support of your employment.  Another example: just go out and buy a gas grill and try to put it together without reading AND understanding the instructions.  The KTO (Keystones To Opportunity) grant that this district received at the end of last year expounds on the idea of authentic literacy.  There are many aspects to authentic literacy that will be a focus of many blogs to come, but know that this will be a major focus of changes in the high school.

I am very excited to work with the students, staff, and families of this district.  I see great potential in the children of this area and am ready to build upon the hard work of the administrators and faculty before me.  Become a follower of my blog by hitting the tab on this page and help me reflect, rethink, revise, and develop my thinking as principal of this high school.