Lessons from the Cities, part four: Recruiting Strong Leaders
The year before Patrick Durkin took over as principal at Goudy Elementary in a high-poverty neighborhood of Chicago, reporters had lambasted the school as "the worst in America." The scathing Chicago Tribune series began: "Welcome to Goudy, where the future dies early." The litany of woes ranged from street gangs to broken plumbing to classrooms where learning didn’t happen.
Eleven years later, Durkin regularly escorts visitors through the halls of his yellow-brick schoolhouse to show off an urban school that works, and works well. Achievement is up. Enrollment is booming. Turnover is down. Durkin has changed staffing patterns so that there’s a lower student-teacher ratio in the primary grades, when children are mastering reading skills. Reading specialists intervene early for children who are struggling. He has recruited teachers from local neighborhoods to work with children and families in the languages they speak at home and smooth the transition to learning in English. When they leave this school at eighth grade, many of Durkin’s students routinely pass entrance exams to the most selective magnet high schools in Chicago.
It takes a strong leader to work such a transformation. Durkin, father of eight and a former captain for the Chicago Fire Department, is not one to back down in the face of challenges. The first day on the job at Goudy, he was waiting outside to greet his students when a fight erupted between rival gangs from neighboring housing projects. Durkin grabbed one of the gang leaders and had him arrested. Ever since, gangs have steered clear of this schoolyard. And Durkin has been free to devote his energies to building the atmosphere most likely to foster success for all students.
City schools where students thrive tend to rely on local decisionmaking rather than a centralized bureaucracy to get things done, according to urban researchers. That means principals, faculty, and local site councils have more responsibility and greater flexibility, and parents have ready access to school staff and a voice in how their children are being educated. The entire building shares in the responsibility for student success. Such a formula demands good leadership at the building level.
Effective school leaders also know how to tap local resources to meet children’s needs. In urban areas, social services may be plentiful but fragmented. The school can be an important resource to pull together services to meet the needs of the "whole child."
A recent conference for principals from high-poverty schools in the Northwest stressed the importance of strong school leadership. Dr. Steve Nelson, who directs Planning and Program Development for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), told the gathering that the national push for school improvement will continue to call for "building-level, research-based practices that make a difference."
Nationwide, urban districts struggle to recruit qualified candidates for principal slots, according to the Council of the Great City Schools. A survey conducted last year found that 47 percent of urban districts reported a shortage of qualified candidates. Principals cite long hours, high stress, and better pay in the suburbs as reasons for staying away from city schools.
Some urban districts are developing new programs to fill the leadership gap. Chicago, for instance, provides a leadership institute for new principals. Toledo, Ohio, is one of several cities where the city school district and a university collaborate to train and mentor aspiring principals. University of Washington President Richard L. McCormick, citing "the critical role of strong principals and superintendents in building good schools," recently announced plans for a training institute for K-12 leaders on the Seattle campus.
In the coming months, Nelson reports, NWREL hopes to be collaborating with researchers at Temple University and the LAB at Brown to build regional networks of peer support for school leaders.
"What is it," we asked a huge gathering of urban school administrators, "about the presence of large numbers of poor, African American, or Latino city kids in your schools that makes those places … " we paused dramatically, "Wonderful?"
—William Ayers and Patricia Ford, City Kids, City Teachers: Reports from the Front Row
