Developing a Community's Vision for Education

I am very glad I decided to wait before posting on this subject.  While I gleaned a great deal from our interview with the Superintendent from the Hudson School District (Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten) as well as looking through the documents from De Forest & Cashton School District's, the concept of vision development matching a community's vision didn't sink in until reading Block's book, Community, The Structure of Belonging.  While his book didn't directly deal with vision building for a school district his insights on the importance of building a sense of  community truly hit home and struck me as the integral part of having a school district's vision to become a successful process and document that will help guide an entire community in how to move forward and guide decisions that the majority of people will stand behind.


This understanding was a major growth process for me and helped define a couple of truths that I have come to realize.  Part of what I have struggled with in education is the lack of vision I have seen in various districts, or at least a lack of commitment to following the vision which was also confirmed by Scott Sand in his recent blog post.  Even though his situation is slightly different (He is the president of DeVry University in Los Angeles) he still finds many of the same challenges we face in the K-12 education setting.  By lack of vision I mean to say a vision that is either so bland or outdated that I am not sure if the educators working under the vision are even aware of it, or have any idea what it takes to follow it.  I have also witnessed district and building leaders that were not inspired to make sure that the vision was a tool to reference as we made decisions that affected daily instructional practices and ultimately affected the education of students.  My frustration has been that I have been an avid reader and searcher for information on best practices in education and how we can meet the needs of all students to help them achieve success.  My belief that embracing and utilizing technology in schools may be the only thing that saves us from going to a completely privatized system is a belief that is not shared by everyone.  My beliefs have been that I needed to become a Superintendent so that I had the power to force that vision.  While I tried to convince myself that educating stakeholders and selling them on these best practices would be the way to achieve this, I am not so convinced any longer.  












After reading Block's book and having some great discussions with other Superintendents and the future district administrators in this program, I have decided that my previous thought out method would have proved to be successful only for a short time (the length of my tenure in the district at best) and would have taken a great deal of effort on my part (after all, it was my vision).  However, if I were to follow Block's advice and take the same steps that leadership in Cashton, De Forest and Hudson have taken, then I believe that I could build a sustainable vision and one that would not just hang on the wall.  It would be one that was created and supported by stakeholders from all over the community.  The same stakeholders whose support is needed when attempting to pass the referendums needed to support large scale school improvements (whether they be buildings or technology purchases).  A vision that is actually practiced everyday by teachers, administrators, support staff, board members, parents and community members.  


I think creating a vision that is focused on a systems approach to continuous improvement is the key to implementing a vision that never goes out of date.  To be continually questioning our practices seems like the best approach to ensuring that you are maintaining best practices.   This is what Stephen M. R. Covey (The Speed of Trust) speaks of when referencing Toyota's practices for developing some of the most reliable vehicles on the road today.  They had to refocus their efforts early in their efforts  to become a world wide car producer.  they developed a strategy based on continuous improvement called Kaizen.  That is not to say, that things need to constantly be changing, but rather that if you are in the constant practice of questioning if there is a better way, and are not a victim of the fear of change, which ends up rendering your vision useless, then you can stay focused on meeting the ever changing needs of students.

One of the things I have definitely learned from class, our readings and my personal learning network (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, etc.) is that when it comes time to interview for a position, that I need to remember that I am interviewing the district & community as well.  I need to keep in mind that I am wanting to find a district/community that aligns well with my personal vision as well.  Do they value the same things I do?  Do they have a continuous improvement mindset?  If so, then I would look forward to working with various community members, staff and even students in developing a vision that would guide us into the future, a resource that we would be able to reference everyday, that is never needing to be dusted off to recall what it is we are suppose to be doing as a community.