Working as an educator can be a tough yet highly rewarding profession.
Working as an urban educator, however, can be a seemingly impossible yet
life-changing experience.
To add a bit of clarity, let’s define “urban education” as
teaching and learning in an impoverished area, where the local economy barely
sustains its citizens let alone supports the public schools charged with
preparing students for success after high school. Honestly, I almost hate to
call it “urban” because although the school where I work serves students living
in the inner city, we at times mirror challenges and barriers faced by our
rural brethren. (The issue is really poverty and the lasting effects and severe
stressors that come with it.) However, for the sake of semantics and the adage
mentioned in the title of this blog, we’ll stick with “urban education.”
For ethos purposes it’s worth noting I work and have worked
in urban education for the past six years.
More specifically, I work and have worked at a school that is only five
years removed from a near mandatory state-takeover. (A takeover that would have
been realized if not for the stopgap efforts of a legendary administrator cajoled
out of retirement.) Now, I’ve heard countless professionals refer to working a
year in urban education to that of working two years anywhere else, thus spurring the burnout rate and keeping urban schools in a perpetual state of teacher-turnover. Needless to
say, though, my only experience with teaching is through the lens of poverty,
social stigma, and the harsh realities that come with both.
This purpose has become my niche, my specialty. And I value
it greatly.
My journey through urban education has been filled with countless
peaks and valleys, and more acutely, daily ebbs and flows. However, the last
two years have been somewhat of a metanoia for me. I have actively watched,
supported and participated in a complete overhaul of the school I serve, from
the proverbial top-to-bottom. New leadership meant a new vision; a new vision
correlates to change; change promotes hard conversations; and hard
conversations, historically, have been something we have avoided.
This particular blog entry isn’t designed to inform the
reader of the specifics surrounding my school’s turnaround, but it’s worth
noting that Jensen’s assertion, in his book, Teaching with Poverty in Mind, that principals have the greatest
impact on student learning in urban schools is – if my school serves as a microcosm
– surgeon-like accurate.
Let me simply say, the school I serve is doing better. Much
better. Are we where we need to be, no.
Are we satisfied with our efforts, therefore resting on our laurels, of course not?
But, we are making progress. I don’t just mean value-added bright spots, either.
No, this school is making genuine, hard fought, no-holds-barred progress. In fact, it’s the school’s progress, or more
like the effort that’s supplying this continuous improvement movement, which
forced me to write this timely blog.
What’s happening here isn’t magic. It’s certainly not urban
magic, whatever that means. No, sir, what’s happening at the school I serve is
far removed from any spell, mysticism, hocus-pocus - pick your Harry Potter
reference - you get the picture. Frankly, there is nothing-supernatural going
on. Quite the contrary, this school’s
turnaround is a direct result of strong leadership, shared vision, moral
purpose, and sweat equity. As if all of these attributes weren’t enough, I must
still repeat the fact that there is no “magic” happening at this school and to
say so, to even imply it, is not only insulting to the students, faculty,
staff, and stakeholders who call this school home, but it also undermines the
value of goal setting, collaboration, and perseverance.
You can’t change the culture of an organization with magic,
and I’m convinced that no matter how many times you scream “Ta-Dah!” the hard
conversations will not get any easier. Yet, that’s what we’re doing: changing
an entire school cluster’s mindset so that it believes in itself while striving
for something better. There’s nothing magic about it, just facts and
professionalism.
Furthermore, I would be remiss if I didn’t speak to the
media’s role in perpetuating a stigma that has left an entire school cluster
leveled. Instead of detailing the injustice here, I’m opting to simply showcase
that this school has taken the fight to cyberspace’s version of the wild west:
Twitter. No longer will we sit back and hope that the media picks-up positive
news pieces about our school’s continued success or that our re-branding
efforts are enough to catch the eye of a sympathetic editor-in-chief or program
director. Instead, once again, we have opted not to wait for magic to happen.
We merely empowered ourselves using a platform that serves as the world’s
largest jumbotron. Or, as Jay-Z so succinctly put it when thumbing his nose at
the archaic Billboard paradigm: #newrules
Now every tweet serves as a mini-commercial, supporting,
documenting, and redefining our continuous improvement movement. It’s not
magic; we work really hard at it. Follow us @maplewoodMNPS. We’ll show you what
we mean.
I’m Dr. Ryan B. Jackson and these thoughts & opinions
are my own. Oh, yeah, follow me, too: @ryanbjackson1
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