In January, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona gave a speech that delineated his vision for public schools. In it, he laid out some familiar ideas for how we should better serve our children: A renewed focus on helping all kids master the basics of reading by 3rd grade; increased funding for schools that educate our most vulnerable children; more career-preparation opportunities for high school students; relief from the burden of college debt. Like most of the arguments made by others of a similar political ilk, there’s little in his speech to disagree with, especially if you’re like most Americans and believe that there should be strong public schools in every community.
While I agree with everything that Secretary Cardona said, it’s what he didn’t say that causes me real concern. Regardless of whether you’re in the camp that fears we’re at a crisis point in American public education, in the one that welcomes its final dissolution because of the new solutions that will grow from its smoldering ashes, or somewhere in the middle, like most people, it’s hard to deny that societal tumult is affecting our public schools. And the many difficulties of the last two years have landed on the very people who are doing hard and heroic work in our schools every day, leaving our schools with fewer and fewer people who want to do the job (a trend we’re already seeing and that could have far-reaching implications). So, it seems to me that the secretary, indeed the entire administration, should be having an honest conversation about the narrative that has been created about public schools, and work toward a new one.
Acknowledging our divisions
Now, I fully understand why it doesn’t behoove the secretary to turn his attention to potentially divisive topics. Since most parents and the public just want good, safe schools in their communities and aren’t consumed with politics, it makes sense to focus on bringing people together around a shared vision. Yet, I also wonder what responsibility such leaders have to let those who are doing the work every day in schools and districts know that they have their back. After all, right-wing politicians and advocates are doing a fine job of making their complaints known, sometimes while claiming that they want to avoid the very division they’re stoking. For instance, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently ordered his education department to identify and do away with any policies “that promote inherently divisive concepts,” and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow has already responded by rescinding numerous training resources related to racial equity (Barthel, 2022).
Amid all this conflict, educators are feeling the collective stress and anxiety that is tearing our country apart. They’re being blamed for the failures of local, state, and national leadership. It’s not the fault of a superintendent or school board members that they’re getting mixed messages and guidance, or even silence, from public health officials. It’s not the fault of principals and teachers that students are acting out and employees are absent due to illness or childcare issues. It is, though, the responsibility of leaders at the highest level to speak clearly and truthfully about what educators on the ground are facing. When educators see their work come under fire, whether from parents angry about COVID-mitigation policies or politicians objecting to equity initiatives, they need more than aspirational statements about what we can achieve when we work together. They need their leaders to tell their story.
Leaders at the highest levels need to start forcefully arguing that schools alone are neither the cause of the problems we’re facing nor the sole solution. Many of the problems our public schools face are the manifestations of multiple decisions that have been made throughout our collective history, largely by white men. The choices to fund schools through property taxes, to prevent poor kids from attending schools in affluent neighborhoods, and to keep teacher salaries low were all made because of specific assumptions about how society should work, and those assumptions are now so deeply embedded in our system that efforts to make change are easily stymied. District leaders often face stiff headwinds when seeking funds for a program that helps vulnerable children, a boundary change to create a more racially diverse student body, or raises in salary to attract and retain high-quality personnel.
Leaders at the highest levels need to start forcefully arguing that schools alone are neither the cause of the problems we’re facing nor the sole solution.
Given the pluralistic governance of our public schools, a new narrative should forcefully acknowledge our collective responsibility to take care of all our children, especially now, when so many people are speaking so loudly about their individual rights. Debates over COVID mitigation strategies have exposed the fault lines that have always run through our society. Leaders have had to balance the need to protect all children, especially those whose disabilities put them at risk, with some parents’ desire to keep their children free from masks (Kim, 2021). At the same time, legislators are muzzling educators who want to teach our children the truth about our history because it might make a few children (or their parents) uncomfortable, and books are being banned because a few people object to the messages within them. Never mind how many children have been made uncomfortable by sanitized history lessons and how many have benefited from the messages in books others would take away from them.
Lifting student voices
Local leaders can’t wait for those on high to step in and speak the truth about what we’re facing. Rather, they have to organize their own communities around a narrative that’s inclusive and reflects the truth about what schools can be for young people. One of the best ways to do so is to include student voices, and those who intend to serve their communities as educators can be especially powerful forces for change. For the last few years, our Educators Rising program has been inspiring high school students to become educators. They want to serve their communities by lifting up the next generation. Some of them want to be the teacher they never had. But many just want to be part of the solution in healing the world. Principals, superintendents, and school boards would do well to engage them in helping to solve the real problems in our schools and communities.
Leaders need to start by telling our young people the truth. Our students and future educators need to hear us say that it is wrong to remove books from libraries and classrooms or put a sudden halt to the equity work in which many schools have been engaged for years. Our young people and future educators need to hear that while parents and the public have the right to come to a public meeting and speak their truth, vitriolic discourse and death threats have no place in public debate. Our future educators need to know that to be truly educated requires a willingness to wrestle with big ideas, engage constructively with people we disagree with, and acknowledge the complexities of our nation’s history. Public education is about improving our common good, which sometimes requires that we ask our neighbors to reconsider deeply held beliefs and assumptions.
Our young people are savvy and observant enough to recognize the conflict happening around them, so it does no good to avoid it. It is far better to bring students into the conversation and help them become part of the solution. The best teachers ask their students to give feedback on lessons, and leaders should do the same when it comes to policy decisions. Young people will no doubt have great ideas about how to make schools safer — both physically and psychologically. And if they demand to see themselves in the curriculum, then there is no reason to deny them. Our Educators Rising students are not only experiencing school, they’re also preparing to shape the next generation by building their foundational knowledge of what great teaching and learning looks like. This combination of personal experience and growing professional awareness can make their voices particularly powerful.
I can’t think of a more difficult time in modern memory to be a leader in public education. I know that superintendents, school leaders, and local elected officials are fighting every day to do what’s right by the families and students in their areas. The national noise doesn’t look like it’s going to abate anytime soon — and it may get worse before it gets better. In the meantime, we need the leaders at the top to speak up and help our young people to change the narrative.
References
Barthel, M. (2022, February 25). Youngkin administration rescinds racial equity resources for schools. DCist.
Kim, R. (2021). Masking reality. Phi Delta Kappan, 103 (3), 64-65.
This article appears in the April 2022 issue of Kappan, Vol. 103, No. 7, pp. 58-59.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joshua P. Starr
Joshua P. Starr is the managing partner at the International Center for Leadership in Education, a division of HMH, based in Boston, MA. He is the author of Equity-based Leadership: Leveraging Complexity to Transform School Systems.
