Let Us Begin Building!

My daughters Elizabeth (age 6) and Catherine (age 4), constantly create. Whether coloring blackline pictures, drawing freehand, cutting things out, glueing, taping, dancing, or singing, they create incessantly.

When we say we believe all children can and will learn, we embed an imperative to do whatever it takes as adults to help all of our students excel. As lead learners in our schools, we have a moral responsibility to ensure that all students receive rigorous, high-quality instruction every lesson, every day. But for students stuck on the wrong side of the persistent achievement gap, we must tackle not only cumulative deficits in knowledge and skill, but also the doubts students have about their abilities, hardened by years of educational neglect.

Feeling hungry is the worst. Like most of us, when I’m hungry, I’m cranky, single-minded, and I usually start talking in caveman/Cookie-Monster-speak: “me want food.” There’s actually some science behind the power of this feeling (happy reading!), and all of us know how all-consuming hunger can be. When you’re hungry, you can think of little else than simply getting food.

In a seminary in Southern California, set in beautiful buildings within a citrus grove, men are preparing to bring the Gospel to diverse realities of the people of God. One of the realities the seminarians are preparing to address is Catholic schools--a great challenge and a wonderful means of evangelization.

“We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.” - Blessed Archbishop Oscar Romero

School leaders function within dynamic and complex systems. No one day is the same as the next and there are always a number of plates spinning. To some this work may seem complicated and messy, but for those of us drawn to the vocation, we relish knowing that each day brings something new. How we manage the multiple and often competing demands of our work is one determinant of how successful our school will be. Principals of high-performing schools focus their attention on key areas when managing complexity. According to Chenoweth & Theokas, authors of Getting it Done: Leading Academic Success, there are three key leverage points to focus on: