Critical Friends in Action

Unlike teachers or principals, superintendents don’t routinely have a ready network of peers with whom to thrash out ideas or to turn to when an issue arises for the first time.

“We get pulled in lots of different directions,” says Leslie Boozer, superintendent in Fontana, Calif., since 2013. “We’re so busy doing the job that we’re not allowing time to take a step back.”

That’s where the “critical friends” component of the AASA Collaborative plays a distinctive and supportive role.

Colleague Know-How

When Jere Hochman, who served for seven years through mid-November as superintendent in Bedford, N.Y., wanted to develop a literacy environment that incorporated technology and multimedia, he raised the challenge with his colleagues in the Collaborative.

“I wanted to find ways of giving teachers and students an opportunity to take risks, be creative and problem solve, to be able to move into the Maker movement,” he said, referring to a practical philosophy that encourages students to actually design and conduct projects to solve problems or meet specific needs.

Although his Westchester County district, which enrolls 4,400 students, already had convened to study what’s involved, Hochman was eager to bank on the know-how of his Collaborative colleagues. After he had a virtual meeting with Yong Zhao, director of the Institute for Global and Online Education at the University of Oregon and an authority on the implications of globalization and technology, Hochman prepared a self-study to share with the other superintendents for their critique.

“The key aspect is getting critical feedback about one essential question,” says Hochman, who now works as New York’s top education policy adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “It’s valuable for all of us. There was a real focus for me. My colleagues gave me strategies and ways to think about this. It’s about getting frank and objective feedback on a particular challenge.”

By sharing his proposed strategic plan, says Jill Gildea, who was one of the critical friends who visited Bedford online, the group offered coaching questions during the webinar. “It’s an awesome opportunity,” she says.

Consulting Circle

The Collaborative’s critical friends initiative also works in the nonvirtual world. Using what’s known as a “step back consulting” model, a superintendent presents her or his issue, then literally moves away from the table or group circle while the other superintendents discuss strategies.

“The role of the group was to ask me questions,” says Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent in Deerfield, Ill. He wanted to explore how he could move his schools forward through a process of continuous improvement. “There were no solutions, no judgments. I backed out of the circle, and they talked about the challenge of our practice. They were listening to each other, and I was a guest.”

At the end of that experience, says consultant Bena Kallick, “the superintendent has an opportunity to jump back in, saying, ‘This is what I heard, this is what I learned, this is what I’m thinking about.’ … The idea with critical friends is to offer critique with integrity. We want them to be successful.”

Viewing a leadership issue through an alternative lens, accompanied by a longer timeline and wider horizon, are invaluable lessons for Collaborative members.

“It clarifies with coherence all the moving pieces and how it fits into a bigger picture,” says Lubelfeld.