Confirming What We Already Know

It is the leadership at the top that nurtures the culture of success. The Wall Street Journal published in last Saturday’s Weekend edition an article by Richard Grant, describing a turnaround school in the Mississippi Delta. I’ve read these stories before, but once again it validates how very important a school district’s leadership (consisting of a governance board, superintendent, building principals, assistant principals and teachers) is on student learning.

I read this article after a week of traveling with three different Oklahoma school district administrators on a tour of schools in two different states. We observed how they can bring the concept of blended-personalized learning to their rural Oklahoma students. That IS visionary leadership, in my estimation! During a time when there is so much “doom and gloom” in Oklahoma education, administrators are still willing to use resources available to them to transform content delivery in a way that further engages their students. And by implementing the cornerstones of time, path, place and pace, schools can easily embrace a blended-personalized learning model. It was exciting to watch veteran educational leaders embrace the paradigm shift needed to make our schools more responsive to today’s students.

It’s not easy being an educational leader today, but I continue to be amazed by the quality administrators Oklahoma has accumulated.

LEAD ON!