Stockvault photo of New York City
“You keep it on the brake, it will be a safe ride,” Klein says “You’re going nowhere, but it will be a safe ride.” Put it on the gas “and you might go over the hill.”
Klein isn’t talking Driver’s Ed here; he’s looking at what makes a dynamic school superintendent. In this short video interview with Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews, he boasts about the changes he’s made in the nation’s largest school system, discusses school leadership in general, and comes to the defense of fellow pedal-to-the-metal reformer, Michelle Rhee of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
My favorite line from the interview concerns Rhee’s often brusque management style. “Systems don’t change ’cause you charm them,” Klein says.
Is Detroit getting its very own “rubber room?” Don’t cheer. This would be a shame, says the Detroit News story, which is on the Eduwonk blog. “Rubber room” is the derisive term given to that place where New York City has put unproductive teachers whose union contracts make them almost impossible to fire. According to the News, Detroit’s latest teacher agreement may set up the district for the same thing.
On the testing front, Wired Science reports on data-loving parents who track everything from their baby’s sleep patterns and heartbeat, to the number of diapers they’ve used. Helicopter parents in the making? Not at all, insists one commenter. ”Obviously, some parents are just having fun keeping track of the data.”
Speaking of data: Think you should have done better on the SAT? Maybe it’s because of the crowded room you took it in. Seriously. Newsweek‘s NutureShock blog reports on research showing that students who take the test in large groups do worse, on average, than those taking it in smaller ones.
How have I been writing The Week in Blogs for two months or so without coming across Michael Smith, author of the Principals Page blog and surely one of the funniest superintendents around? Read his “Signs You Might Be a School Administrator,” and see if you can’t relate.
Among the “signs:”
”You know of a countdown to summer vacation. In January.”
Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor
