May 2012

The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.  -  Edwin Way Teale

 
May greetings! This first week of May many schools are beginning their state testing and I want to thank parents in advance for setting a positive, encouraging tone as your words and actions do influence how children approach these exams.
 
Often associated with mandatory testing are questions and conversations about "educational reform." While I certainly believe some changes could be helpful, I think some of the rhetoric associated with "reform" is ill conceived and politically exaggerated.  
 
I’m not always sure what “reform” is, but I have ideas about what it is not. I certainly don't see the infusing of technology into core classrooms as major reform, as all this is doing is making teaching and learning more powerful and relevant, but the basic elements of great instruction are still the same. Nor do I see changing a high school or middle school schedule to a model which has a couple days of fewer, but longer class periods (or "blocks") as terribly revolutionary as it simply allows teachers and students to go a bit deeper into the curriculum, providing more time for guided practice while perhaps creating a calmer pace for teachers and students for a couple of days each week. To me this is not radical, as it just makes sense given what we know about learning and effective teaching.
 
And finally, our commitment to rigor, relevance, and relationship is hardly dramatic reform. In fact, as we think about those teachers who most touched our own lives, I suspect that these three “Rs” were at the heart of the impact of those teachers. This is certainly not something that is controversial or fodder for much debate.
 
It strikes me that some who call for radical changes might be better served by getting back to basics such as what you find in our district.  Our focus on quality teaching, thoughtful leadership, engaged governance, meaningful parent and community involvement, all grounded in collaborative problem solving, may be all the “reform” public education needs. We are a district that is not interested in excuses, nor are we interested in blaming, but rather in finding solutions that enable all students to leave our system with viable options for the 21st century. This is the story of our district and the story from which “reformers” could learn a great deal!
 
What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts with me at senoch@srvusd.net.
 
Thanks for reading and thank you for your support of our students and support of the school district.
 
Steven Enoch
Superintendent of Schools
 
PS- Regarding my interesting path to retirement, it is true that I was strongly encouraged (after I announced my retirement) to apply for the superintendent position in Seattle. I did visit with some wonderful folks in Seattle, including the Board of Education. It was a very interesting process, but in the end I decided they deserved someone a bit younger than me as they need long term stability in their leadership. So my retirement is back on and besides, this last weekend was a great reminder of why we prefer sunshine over rain!