VPerspective

Compelling leadership

by Aminda Gentile

May 8, 2008 6:11 PM

Recently I was the proud recipient of the 2008 Not for Ourselves Alone: The Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award. I never thought of myself as a “female pioneer,” as the award says I am. Yet any leader, female or male, has to be a pioneer, leading the way, bringing others along, making tough decisions and always being alert to what’s around you. I was fortunate that I followed a real pioneer — Sandy Feldman — whose belief in teacher professionalism blazed a path for me. I hope that my leadership will leave just as clear a path for those who follow.

But it’s not only what a leader believes in. What compels leaders to act the way they do?

There are leaders who are authoritarian, evil and incompetent. There are leaders who are compassionate, cooperative and enlightened. There is Stalin. There is Martin Luther King. Both of them leaders, but very different individuals.

So here are some of my humble thoughts about leadership. Unlike others in positions of leadership, I know education, as do my colleagues. Tolstoyan theories of history, not “great man” theories, color my beliefs about educational leadership. Schools are complex organisms that create change. You can’t reduce them to a single letter designation, a scale score or a statistically derived formula of competence. One size does not fit all; circumstances matter.

As an educational leader, what compels me is that I remember every day what it means to be a teacher. It’s not about “myself” alone and the headlines and awards I quarry off the efforts of others. What matters is what happens in classrooms, instructionally.

The leadership I try to provide is based on what teachers need and want, not what I know I want. It’s not leadership based on threats, checklists, bulletin boards, ideology impervious to evidence and standardized student test scores that make teachers effective. What makes teachers effective is a host of — and this word is anathema in many corporate style academies of leadership development (and I don’t particularly care for it in an educational sense either) — “inputs.” And it helps if instructional leaders know even a little bit about instruction so they can know what inputs matter.

When I lobby in Albany with other leaders of this union, or I testify at the City Council, or meet at Tweed, it’s to fight for the inputs I believe make teachers effective. Inputs such as money for our schools used in our schools. Other things that matter are smaller classes, ample textbooks, access to technology, labs, support services and useful, high-quality professional development that respects an educator’s knowledge and expertise. Sometimes I fight to ensure that those who say they are accountable are held accountable for their decisions and their rhetoric — whether it’s to close a school, hire a consultant, provide mentoring, involve parents or close the achievement gap.

It’s what leaders accomplish and the methods they use to ensure our students achieve and our democracy prospers that will compel others to follow.