A great leader is usually key to a great organization, and nowhere is that more true than in a school.
A great principal can foster an inviting school culture, a harmonious workplace and a platform for learning.
Denver Public Schools has known this and has focused its reforms on attracting top leaders and teachers. Yet, the district fell a step short of empowering principals with the autonomy allowing them to chart their own courses.
For the most part, principals have had to accept whatever the district gave them. Decisions about curriculum and the type of teacher training were made by the central administration.
That is about to change.
Recently, the school board approved what looks to be a monumental shift in how the district’s traditional schools are run — providing all principals the opportunity for more control. They will be able to choose their school’s curriculum, select the type of professional development best for their teachers and set the parameters on what kinds of district assessments their students will take.
“If the school is the unit of change, let’s give them as much autonomy as we legally can,” said school board member Barbara O’Brien.
This move comes a year after DPS unveiled its revamped Denver Plan. But the ambitious goals for the district to meet by 2020 may be next to impossible under the traditional system of top-down control.
This change gives schools the freedom to decide how to best reach those goals.
“It is saying, ‘These are what the standards should be. How you get there is up to you,’ ” said Van Schoales, CEO of A-Plus Denver.
The empowering of principals is a natural progression for DPS that has embraced charter schools, allowed parents to choose any district school, and invented the “innovation school” model, under which a school can ask to be exempt from many central-office and union dictates.
Starting this fall, every school will be able to create the environment that best suits its community. Principals will have to opt in for district programs and services. The default will be autonomy.
“This is the right next step,” said Superintendent Tom Boasberg. “We have made really great progress, but we have to move faster. Promoting more innovation will help us move faster.”
At the same time, the district is strengthening its school accountability framework by adding a component that looks at equity within each school.
The Denver Plan is now a decade-old reform. The district has improved in many areas, but the growth has been slow. Particularly frustrating is that the achievement gap between minorities and their white or Asian peers remains cavernous.
Change for change’s sake does not work. But giving schools the power to chart their own courses should empower and attract leadership that is crucial to success.
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