AASA keynote: Focus on children, or risk nation’s status

We need to rethink our priorities as a nation, Canada said.
We need to rethink our priorities as a nation, Canada said.

Referring to the significant challenges facing public education today as a crisis that threatens the nation’s status as a global leader, educational trailblazer Geoffrey Canada urged school leaders to push for more funding and do “whatever it takes” to make sure all students succeed.

“I am convinced that if our country continues to treat its children the way it has, we will no longer remain a world superpower,” Canada said in a Feb. 12 keynote speech at the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education in Phoenix. “In fact, we won’t even be in the top 10.”

Canada is president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a project that the New York Times described as “one of the most ambitious social-service experiments of our time.”…Read More

Duncan offers ‘guiding principles’ for rewriting NCLB

“We should be tight on standards … but loose about how to get there,” Duncan said.
“We should be tight on standards … but loose about how to get there,” Duncan said.

Calling No Child Left Behind a “blunt instrument” that placed more emphasis on defining failure than encouraging success, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Feb. 12 outlined the Obama administration’s vision for rewriting the nation’s education law.

Speaking to school superintendents during the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education, Duncan identified three principles that will guide the administration’s approach toward rewriting NCLB: (1) higher standards, (2) rewarding excellence, and (3) a “smarter, tighter federal role” in ensuring that all students succeed.

“I’ll always give credit to NCLB for exposing achievement gaps and advancing standards-based reform. But better than anyone, you know [the law’s] shortcomings,” Duncan told the assembled education leaders. “NCLB allows, even encourages, states to lower their standards. In too many classrooms, it encourages teachers to narrow the curriculum. It relies too much on bubble tests in a couple of subjects. It mislabels schools, even when they are showing progress on important measures.”…Read More

Duncan: Superintendent prep programs must change

Even more than theory, superintendents need hands-on vocational training, Sec. Duncan said.
Superintendents need hands-on vocational training, Sec. Duncan said.

States and school systems, with the help of the federal government, must work harder to improve the way superintendents are trained and prepared to lead the nation’s schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told attendees of the American Association of School Administrators’ annual conference Feb. 12.

Duncan, himself a former superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, said policy makers should question whether the requirements in superintendent certification programs accurately reflect what we know about effective school district leadership.

“Successful superintendents don’t just need a Ph.D. in educational administration,” Duncan said. “Even more than educational theory, superintendents need hands-on vocational training. Superintendents require business skills, expertise in dealing with the media, the ability to negotiate with a variety of stakeholders, and a command of budgeting. Those skills are hard to acquire in a classroom.”…Read More

AASA 2010 to focus on reform, innovation

Arne Duncan will be a special guest speaker at AASA 2010.
Arne Duncan will be a special guest speaker at AASA 2010.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will deliver a keynote speech at the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) National Conference on Education, which runs Feb. 11-13 in Phoenix.

Duncan will be a special guest speaker during a session with Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada will pull from his experience in establishing an innovative social program that works with children and families while reaching for education reform. President Obama has touted the program as one he would like to replicate across the country.

Educational content will be organized around four focus areas. Executive leadership content will focus on how principals and heads of school systems can hone effective leadership skills that build teams, use systems-thinking approaches, and transform public education.…Read More

Superintendents say they need resources, flexibility to transform schools

Superintendents hope the federal government will make resources available to districts while also allowing for improvement programs developed within the district.
Finalists for the National Superintendent of the Year have a message for federal leaders: Give us the flexibility to make our own improvements.

School administrators aiming to transform the nation’s schools hope the federal government will make resources available to districts while also giving them the flexibility to implement their own improvement programs, said finalists in the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year competition.

The four finalists held a panel discussion Jan. 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to examine what they think school leaders and the Obama administration can do to bring about change in public schools.

“We have the ability to transform ourselves,” said Washington County, Md., Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Molina Morgan. “I think the administration should give school systems tools, support, and guidance so they can transform themselves from the inside out. [The administration] should avoid having more federal oversight.”…Read More

eSN-TV: AASA on ED’s outreach to supes

DomenechresizedDuring the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) annual conference held in San Francisco, Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of AASA, sat down with eSchool News’ editor and publisher, Gregg Downey, to discuss AASA’s role in the development of the stimulus package and eSchool News’ Ninth Annual Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards (TSSA).

“We’ve got a seat at the table now,” explained Domenech. “We helped Obama’s transition team, and three days after Arne Duncan appointed [and confirmed], we helped him to form focus groups made up of superintendents to talk education issues.”

Duncan and Domenech weighed in on the education portion of the stimulus package, creating and passing legislation that Domenech says he is happy about.…Read More

AASA: Educate the ‘total child’

Duncan is focusing on rural schools as stimulus funds flow to districts nationwide.
Duncan is focusing on rural schools as stimulus funds flow to districts nationwide.

Three days after his confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan reportedly called Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, to arrange a conference call with 15 rural superintendents to hear what their needs were–and how the federal stimulus package could help meet those needs.

“We’re excited that we have a Secretary of Education who listens to us,” Domenech said at AASA’s annual conference Feb. 19. He noted that Duncan–a former superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools and AASA member–said the conference call wasn’t a one-time occurrence and would happen again throughout his tenure as secretary.

Domenech’s story illustrates how AASA once again has been given a place at the national policy-making table under the Obama administration. And that’s important, Domenech said, as Congress prepares to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind Act later this year.…Read More

AASA hears what’s about to disrupt schools

Disruptive innovations are based on the idea that every so often, a new innovation comes along that completely changes the marketplace.
Disruptive innovations are based on the idea that every so often, a new innovation comes along that completely changes the marketplace.

If Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen is right, half of all instruction will take place online within the next 10 years–and schools had better get into the online-learning market or risk losing their students to other providers.

Christensen was at the American Association of School Administrators conference in San Francisco Feb. 19 to discuss his book Disrupting Class, which looks at why schools have struggled to improve through the lens of “disruptive innovation.”

Disruptive innovation is the business idea that, every so often, a new innovation comes along that completely changes the marketplace, knocking the old market leaders from their perch and giving rise to new ones.…Read More

Crisis survival tops agenda at AASA meeting

AASA keynoter Donna Brazille urged school leaders to make lasting investments in education.
AASA keynoter Donna Brazille urged school leaders to make lasting investments in education.

The tanking economy and its devastating effect on education budgets, as well as the freshly signed economic stimulus package that promises billions of dollars in new money for cash-strapped schools, dominated the conversations on Day One of the American Association of School Administrators’ annual conference in San Francisco.

“In times like this, it’s important to remember there have always been times like this,” said Carlos Garcia, superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District. “We’ll get through it. We always do.”

Of course, the $106 billion pegged for education in President Obama’s economic stimulus plan is sure to help.…Read More

Saving school budgets in a recession

Buying from large group contracts, aligning budgets with school improvement plans, starting an educational foundation, and mastering the art of passing school bond issues were among the strategies for surviving the current fiscal crisis discussed at the American Association of School Administrators’ annual conference in San Francisco Feb. 19.

AASA Chief Executive Daniel Domenech said this year’s conference includes 14 hours of sessions devoted to managing school systems during a tough economy.

Despite an influx of $106 billion in federal funding from the recently signed stimulus package, “we are all experiencing an economic situation the likes of which we’ve never seen–and as a result, we’re going to be forced to make several changes,” Domenech said.…Read More

AASA 2009 will help guide administrators in a troubled economy

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) 2009 Conference on Education, which runs Feb. 19-21 in San Francisco, promises to offer administrators a wealth of information and ideas for districts of any size.

AASA will offer more than 14 hours of economic-impact related sessions designed to help administrators operate the best public school system possible under strained economic circumstances.

New for 2009 is a mentor program to help aspiring superintendents, or those who have been a superintendent for less than five years, build a supportive network of peers.…Read More

AASA speakers will focus on district improvement

Speakers at AASA General Sessions are selected to build administrators’ vision of the future and to explore how global trends, advancements in science, corporate management techniques and even imagination can help to move districts forward.  Click here to view all this year’s speakers.