[Winona] Bianchi

[Roy Nasstrom]

Paideia is an excellent school, but excellence in one context does not automatically translate into excellence in another. Paideia differs greatly from most public schools. The parents of Paideia students have been instrumental in founding the school and they have been dedicated and affluent enough to pay yearly tuitions from $12,063 for elementary students to $13,695 for high school seniors. (Eighty-nine percent of parents pay full tuition.) Parents are involved in the hiring of teachers. The school emphasizes diversity of students, but the diversity rests within significant boundaries, and one shouldn’t forget that basically this is a school with a strong scholarly emphasis. In 2000, of 92 graduates, 16 were National Merit finalists, 5 were National Achievement finalists, 16 were National Merit Commended students, and 3 were National Achievement Commended students. Graduates are found at Harvard, Yale, Princeton--even Oxford. Thus when one attempts to transfer the principles of the school to the typical public school, one must be vary careful to account for the differences in context. Ignorance of differing contexts accounts for the wreckage of  many efforts at educational reform.   Having noted this, I can say, however, that school site management (the topic wedded early to the discussion of Bianch) in public schools can be very useful under many conditions. It is difficult to discuss the structure in a few words, because an enormous number of variations exist throughout the country in its implementation and organization. Nevertheless, there is evidence of success of some plans. To be successful in terms of improving the education of students--a goal not universal among various uses of the plan--certain conditions must receive attention. A few of them, noted more or less randomly, are:   1)      A clear idea of the reason to institute the plan. For example, what is wrong with the current situation and how can the plan improve things? Will it help some students but not all? To institute SBM simply because it seems to be a current fad is not promising. 2)      A general understanding by administrators, teachers, and parents of the characteristics of financial programs (grants, state aid, federal aid) that must be fitted into any plan in allocating responsibilities. Finance can constitute a major obstacle. 3)      An agreement on the goals. Do administrators agree or do they just give lip service? Do all teachers agree? For example, one danger is that the enthusiasm of a few teachers (or administrators) for the plan will lead to lip service support by others who will give little time or effort to the actual implementation, leaving a small group to do most of the work—and a great deal of work is involved. 4)      An agreement on the plan to implement. The plan should be laid out clearly. If it is not, a series of ad hoc decisions can result in chaos. 5)      Consideration of the new responsibilities of staff members in relation to responsibilities they already have. The piling on of new tasks while retaining old ones is a sure way to abort sustained change. 6)      Attention to getting parents involved seriously. Often both teachers and administrators find parents helpful only when the parents express agreement. Genuine parental involvement, even in curricular issues, should be welcome, even though the professional views of educators must ultimately have much weight. In most public schools, a general lack of parental attention is the major problem, of course, and efforts must be made to enlist parents. This task is a major one, and for some public schools insurmountable, resulting in parental involvement by only a few. Site based management can exist with this situation, but it is difficult.   Several other conditions underlie successful site-based management, and I’m sure that many on-line participants can contribute a few. In any case, its creation can be successful as long as its plans account for the many issues involved.   (Randy had suggested the application of certain principles to various institutions. Although to keep the message as short as possible, I have responded in terms of educational institutions alone, I believe that with modification many of the same principles can apply to governments or private enterprise.   Roy Nasstrom