Does Leadership Matter? It Does When I’m Selecting a High School for My Son In NYC
It’s high stress time in NYC. The exams for the specialized high schools occurred on Saturday morning and rotational visits to schools are in full force. Getting your child into the right high school in NYC is running the gauntlet of evaluations, ambiguous criteria, and often unspecified standards. However, my friends at college admission offices tell me that my son’s performance matters more than finding the perfect high school.
That said, fearing a high school’s reputation can be used as a short-cut (heuristic device) to assess college applicants, I won’t stop worrying about finding the perfect high school for my son anytime soon. Cultural stereotypes about the ‘academic father’ set aside, I think most of you can be empathetic with my search for the one ingredient that differentiates one high school school from another.
Over the past few months I’ve been examining high schools based on their average class size, general curriculum, the number of teachers who hold advanced degrees, and the number of computers in the computer lab, etc. I kept looking for what makes us social scientists most comfortable: tangible output measures.
This morning while waiting in the auditorium in one of the local high schools (having traumatic flashbacks of my assembly days held in Jamaica High School in the mid-60s) I found the conversations going back to the new principal who had taken over the school we were visiting.
This particular school, previously a grand success, lost their best principal to retirement a few years ago and her replacement brought the school to new lows and was eventually replaced yet again. We were glad to hear the new principal was making head-way and producing great results. The school had the same average class size, the same curriculum, and the same number of computers, but its success was a function of solid leadership.
Even in my son’s current middle school panic set in when parents found out that the principal decided to take a year off to be with her family. There was a feeling that without her at the helm, the school would revert to chaos.
The moment you think leadership in an organization is an abstract notion, more hubris than content, think again about the great high school principals you have known. Sure, they may not be perfect, but they walk the halls, they hold people accountable, they make hard decisions, they are proactive, and indeed, they get things done.
Principals may not be charismatic, but I’m not looking for inspiration or vision. I’m just looking for a grounded education for my son.
Picture Source: Forgotten NY
Tagged as classrooms, computer lab, examining high schools, fining a HS in NYC, heuristic device, high school, high school selection in NYC, high school's in NYC, HS selection, HS selection in NYC, jamacia high school, jamaica high school, nyc and the high school search, nyc high schools, principals, proactive principal, queens, retirement, running the gauntlet, selecting nyc hs + Categorized as Proactive Leadership
Sam,
I’d look at.
- school’s performance in High School Certificate examination results (though it’s 6 years away) – percentage of students who are on the top 5% percentile. The top 10 schools seem to be able to hold their positions well over the years, so they are benchmarks.
- school location. It needs to be convenient and within 45 mins travel.
- school reputation. That means few drug abuses, bullying and..
- my kid’s ability. There are minimum entrance requirements and they’re competitive in the government selective schools.
In the end, there are only 2 to 3 preferences.
I’m not familiar to the management of schools and so I could only use tangible outcomes as my assessment. Principals and teaches come and go so often that it’s hard to base my criteria on individual personality and leadership. I think education is an industry which relies substantially on brand equity – reputation, track record- and word of mouth marketing. It’s been successful as the good schools are able to draw in good students. In the end, it’s pretty much a self-fulfilling need – we can what we want and the school get what they need.
Best
Michael
Mike,
Very true. The idea of a high school as a ‘brand’ captures a lot of the angst parents have when choosing a school. Not only are there parameters that they want to judge, but there is also the word-of-mouth marketing and the general reputation of a school that needs to be evaluated. By and large your point sheds light on the larger cycle: good schools attract good student. I agree.
I concede that principals and teachers skate on very thin ice and that they are not permanent fixtures in a lot of cases. However, when a good principal is at the helm of a school–things get done and the parameters we discussed improve. Why? Good principal’s are great leaders.
Look at the interview I did earlier this year with Ada Dolch, an ex-principal, who trains principals on the core concepts of leadership. The stress in her institute is on results, not rhetoric or theory.
http://bacharachblog.com/proactive-leadership-skills/proactive-leaders-series-ada-dolch/
In the end however you make a fair point: good schools are good because of strong brand equity. I’d argue a strong principal can build the brand or improve on it. Adversely, a bad principal has the power to ruin the brand in a few short months.
Thanks for the compelling comment Mike. I’d like to do more reading on school branding.
Best,
Sam B.
Hi Sam,
I am in absolute agreement with you that a strong principal would help build the reputation of the school and a bad principal would do the opposite. A case in point is I’ve received a letter from the principal (she is a new one) of my kid’s school. Traditionally, the school has 6 academic awards and 3 improvement awards for each class from Yr 1 to 6. Under the new scheme, there will only be 1 academic (best) award and 2 improvement awards in each years. It’s just 2 weeks from the end of the school year (Feb to Dec here) and I’ve doubts if this is the right time to make the change. Her principal joined the school in Feb and she has over nine months to make any changes she likes.
Let’s not argue on the merits of the new award system in detail. Does she think that it’s not a problem changing the rules because she deals with students? I’m sure some parents would tell their kids they would get prizes if they could get an award. Kids would now ask whether they will get any prizes and parents would ask what it’s going on?
To me, it’s like any other business transformations. The important things are to keep the stakeholders informed of the change and get their support.
The question is whether one should leave one’s kids in the school if one’s not happy about the direction the school is going. Should we pull our kids out from the school? What about the friends our kids have made over the years? Will it affect our kids emotionally?
Best,
Michael
Mike,
You raise a good point. I wrote the piece from the point-of-view of selecting a new school–not deciding whether to take my kid out of a bad one.
A lot is at stake when you have to move your child to a new school. It’s definitely not a easy choice. Still, I think my original argument holds water. Principals are vital to a schools success–they are more important than typical out-put measures social scientists are fast to study, increase, or decrease. It’s that simple. If a principal does make a poor decision it might be wise to move your child. However, it’s hard to decide since your child’s emotional life is tied to the school. You need to hear the principal’s long term and short term goals and decide whether they are plausible.
Like you said the principal, like your average CEO, needs to outline the future to the parents (stockholders).
Regardless, I hope I don’t have to deal with finding a new high school for my kid! I hope we can find the right principal now, instead of later.
Best,
Sam B.