I was recently interviewed via email by Andrew, a soon to be graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, with an undergrad in engineering and an MBA. What follows are his questions and my answers.
1. What is your official job title and what do you do in a typical day?
My official job title is Program Specialist 2. I am a part of the district management team assigned to a school site in the district. The school site I work at is low performing school that was the recipient of two large grants totaling several million dollars over several years. The grants target school improvement and class size reduction. The position was created to help manage the site principal meet the various requirements of the grants and to deal with all the budget issues and program monitoring that is required by the grants and by the state.
I typically divide my day working with the school principal and two literacy coaches on improving the academic and instructional quality of the teachers. This included coaching teachers in their collaborative meetings known as Professional Learning Communities. I try to ask questions that frame issues in a way that teachers can use their own ideas and knowledge, but still be accountable to the school’s focus areas and needs. I also spend a great deal of time dealing with budgetary issues such as purchasing, budget forecasting, personnel costs, etc. I also head up our technology improvement program, which includes the use of Apple laptops, Promethean Boards, digital document cameras, etc.
When not spending my time with the literacy team or dealing with budget issues, I spend my time trying to creatively problem solve current school issues and what I call “mapping.” Mapping is simply developing long term strategic plans that give clear direction on where the school needs to arrive to meet all the needs of the grants, improve instruction, and increase urgency. I developed four focus areas, which I have mapped for the teachers and then developed a map for increasing urgency and influencing excellent behaviors in the staff. I call this the Victory Project.
2. How often do you get to interact with students/parents, or is your job more slanted to being behind a desk?
Working at a school site allows me to interact directly with students everyday. Though I do not have my own students, I am in classrooms daily and that allows me to spend some time with students from every class and every grade level.
Part of the grant requirements is to increase parent participation and involvement at the school site. To this end, I coordinate with a local community college to provide adult English as a Second Language classes during the day on the school campus. I also try to find adult education opportunities through outside providers that can give the parents tangible skills in parenting, navigating the American education system, and how to help their students at home. In addition I work closely with our P.T.A and our School Site Council.
My job is very people intensive. I work closely with the teachers, administrators, literacy coaches, students, parents, consultants, and district administration. Time behind the desk is necessary, but I am at my best when working with others.
3. Did you start in the education field? Or did you switch careers?
I did not start in education. I went to college with eye for working in law enforcement or the military. I graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice from California State University Fullerton. While in college I joined the Marine Corps reserve and spent a year on active duty during the first Gulf War. I then worked in and around law enforcement. After a bout with cancer, I decided to leave that arena and enter an arena where I could use my love of teaching others. I decided to try education. I have enjoyed my time, both in the classroom and out.
4. Did you feel like you had to obtain an education related degree to add legitimacy?
In California, all teachers, regardless of undergraduate degree must obtain a teaching credential. This is similar to going back to school to earn a masters degree. I obtained my teaching credential through Azusa Pacific University and tacked on a Master’s Degree in Education. I don’t necessarily feel you need an undergraduate degree in education or child development to be a successful teacher. At the junior high and high school levels in California, most teachers majored in their academic areas (math, history, P.E, etc.). I don’t think the degree makes one a great teacher. Some people are made to be teachers. The degree is not what gives a teacher legitimacy. Most teachers never even talk about their degrees. What gives a teacher legitimacy is their knowledge of the craft and their ability to form relationships with students.
5. How open is the education community to people from "non-traditional" backgrounds?
I think the education community responds well to people like my self with “non-traditional” backgrounds. Many of the administrators I encountered valued my different background and the thinking that I brought to the classroom. Of course I am biased, but I think someone who has some life experiences outside of the classroom before they come back to the classroom to teach is an advantage.
6. (This is related to question 5) Based on your experiences, do you think the education field needs, or has a niche for, people with business and/or engineering backgrounds? Or for that matter, anyone who isn't a certified teacher or administrator or principal.
Well that depends on what you mean by education. Districts have employees who are not directly related to teaching such as accountants, I.T, building and maintenance, human resources, purchasing, inventory, etc. In that regard, education most definitely has a need for business and engineering backgrounds. My district has many people who specialize in many non-teaching areas and had careers in the private sector prior to coming to work for the district.
But if I was to take your question and apply it to the education side of things, that makes for an interesting question. Principals today are asked to manage hundreds of thousands of dollars in budgets, multi-million dollar facilities, large staff of both classified (non-teaching positions) and certificated (teaching and administrative positions) personnel. Most principals come from the classroom and have to learn all of these management skills.
With the need for casting vision, strategic planning, personal management, strategic use of resources, understanding the complicate state budgetary process, etc., I wonder if principals should get their MBAs. I have actually thought about getting an MBA. Knowing myself as I do, I would need a very un-traditional program and cutting edge program. Probably something like the Ken Blanchard Executive MBA program.
7. You oftentimes mention that you see yourself as a catalyst. What obstacles have you personally encountered to education reform and change?
When I first began teaching my then principal should I should stop asking, “Why?” She explained to me that sometimes there is no answer to why education does the things it does. Education limited in many ways by a mind-numbing list of regulations, laws, and other requirements that have nothing to do with teaching and learning. Like many large bureaucracies, education is very risk averse. The system do not trust people to do what is right and has dozens of checks and hurdles that teachers and principals must navigate through to get what is best for kids. Politicians, unions, school boards, and district offices all have varying and different agendas. Trying to blend all of those agendas and priorities into a meaningful learning environment for students is challenging.
My personal frustrations have dealt with unnecessary rules and regulations getting in the way of what is best for students. I have been frustrated by a lack of urgency in teachers to make the necessary changes to improve student learning. I have been frustrated by technology being used in very limited ways instead of a powerful learning and teaching tool. I have been frustrated by many who fail to question their assumptions, spend no time trying to problem solve issues, who do not look for underlying principles, and end up continuing to solve the same problems again and again. I have been frustrated with a lack of innovation and creative thought. I have been frustrated by an acceptance of standard methods and a failure to ever look out of education for successful ideas.
But, I believe in learning and I love teaching and working with those who teach. I go to work every day hoping I can be a catalyst to help make a difference.
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The question I have for the rest of us is this. In what ways can education encourage if not outright recruit people like Andrew. People who majored in subjects like engineering and people who have MBAs? You see Andrew is interested in education. Frankly, I think we need people in education who have his background and education. We need more variety. We have plenty of child education, child development, and degrees of a similar ilk. What do you get when you combine a teacher with an engineering degree, and MBA, and a love for education? I don’t know, but I hope we all find out one day. Sounds like Education Innovation to me.
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