Living in a Leadersip Vacuum

One thing about any organization - you need leadership. You need an individual who can make decisions as needed, can think ahead, and can delegate decision-making power to other competent individuals.

We have none of that. It was extremely obvious on Wednesday's professional development time when we were looking at the testing schedule for the state tests. Two hours were allotted for testing each day. Two hours. Then most of us missed class periods with kids throughout the week.

Now the instructional coach (don't get me started...) explained how the leadership team had come up with the schedule - and therein lies another tale. The "leadership team" consisted of the coach and the principal, none of the people on the team who have actually been testing coordinators. The state "suggests" two hours for the testing - the ACTUAL testing - not the set-up, not the necessary breaks, not the signing in and out of test booklets. This person never allowed for any of that.

Now, we are a failing school, and all the pressure this year has been to try and get us out of that label. Given how we are getting set up by district and other officials, we are going to fail again - so most of us left the meeting wondering why we should even open the boxes at all - why go through all that grief when conditions are not optimum for the kids.

I was livid- setting up a testing schedule is not rocket science - you list what you MUST have, add in extra time for unexpected things, listen to teacher input for schedule suggestions, and then make the schedule. When four people on your staff have been testing coordinators at previous schools and have experience, you listen to them.

But no, let's do what education does so well - reinvent a wheel that doesn't work well to begin with......