The Human Connections That Empower

EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Educators know the connection between teacher and student is among the most significant factors to impact student success. Having a caring and trusted adult within a school who creates a strong connection with a student can impact the trajectory of the student’s life.

One of the most critical responsibilities of a school system leader is to select building-level leaders who will create the climate and culture for staff to thrive and ensure each student has the opportunity to succeed. As superintendents, we also must prioritize the time to move beyond the day-to-day management to lead our systems.

Throughout my career, I have used the concept of defined autonomy in my leadership style to clarify priorities. Together with our leadership team, we create common goals, general non-negotiables and processes to measure our progress and success, allowing the individual leaders to make decisions within the framework we have established.

Once the goals and boundaries are defined, schools can pursue those objectives as they see fit. However, this empowerment is coupled with accountability mechanisms, and educators need access to the necessary support and resources. This includes professional development opportunities, access to data and research and the flexibility to allocate resources as needed.

A culture of collaboration and shared learning is essential, and schools should be encouraged to share their successes and challenges, fostering a community of practice that benefits from diverse experiences and perspectives. A continuous feedback system identifies what works and where strategic adjustments are required to meet evolving educational needs.

Empowering People

Superintendents need to empower their people to make decisions for student success while casting the vision and direction for what public education can look like within their school system and context. School leaders need the freedom to make decisions within their specific school context and identify the staff with the skills to meet the needs of their students. Creating a positive climate and culture within the building is critical for student success and reducing staff turnover within the school.

One of the most pressing challenges is recruiting, retaining and developing high-quality teaching staff. In an era where teacher shortages are pronounced, the role of human resources never has been more critical in identifying talent and building the skills needed within the staff to meet the complex challenges facing our schools.

AASA is working with partner associations, higher education institutions and corporate partners to remove the barriers within the teacher pipeline. From Grow Your Own teacher programs to programs supporting paraprofessionals earning their teacher certification to our partnership with Arizona State University on the Next Education Workforce^©, AASA is actively growing the teacher pipeline in this country, while at the same time thinking carefully about the working conditions of today’s teachers to ensure we retain great talent.

We also have partnered with NAESP, NASSP and ISTE/ASCD to develop an Educational Leadership Continuum. We are collaborating to build out professional learning opportunities for those aspiring to be teacher leaders, assistant principals, principals, central-office staff and/or superintendents while supporting those individuals currently in each role. Look for more on our continuum work in the near future.

Striving Jointly

Through our Leadership Network, we have posted resources on the AASA website, and I encourage you to access those and join our Next Education Workforce cohort, which we believe will drive what the education workforce of tomorrow may look like. We hope to set the stage for our students, teachers, school and district leaders to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

Let’s continue striving together to make our public education system a place of growth and possibility for every student and a place where our staff can thrive throughout their careers.

As you wrap up your school year, I wish you the absolute best for your end-of-year celebrations and commencement exercises. I certainly hope you all find time this summer to reflect, relax and recharge. It has been a great year for public education in this country, thanks to your leadership. Be well, my colleagues and friends.

David Schuler is AASA executive director. Twitter: @AASA_ED