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.
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