Challenges Faced as a New Leader

When I secured the position as Curriculum Coordinator for Math and Science (grades 9 – 12), new leadership had just started.  The superintendent, assistant superintendent, myself along with others were perceived as outsiders and did not understand the clientele (i.e. students).  Many times educators get complacent and shift the blame on students, instead of reflecting on self and evaluating his/her impact on students and the organization.  I found this to be true in my new district.  I started out collecting formal and informal data.  I met with principals to discuss their vision and expectations of their respective schools, my role and responsibilities, etc.  I met with teachers during their planning times so I can better understand the culture of the school.  I felt that it was very important to be very visible in the buildings and have a strong presence.   I wanted to informally introduce myself before I had any “group” meetings with teachers or principals.  I wanted them to feel comfortable talking with me in their own space.  After a few weeks of visiting schools, I had an official meeting with the math and science departments.  I shared the strengths and areas of concern along with suggestions and three-year trend End-of-Course test data in a powerpoint presentation.  I discussed my expectations and plans for the school year.  I thought the meeting went great until I got an email from my boss.  She wanted to meet with me to discuss the outcome of the meeting.  During this meeting, my boss mentioned that several teachers left my meeting upset and felt like I was belittling them.  This was not my intentions!  I started wondering, how could they have misunderstood me, what did I say for them to feel that way, and how in the world am I going to fix it.  During the meeting with me and my boss, she explained that since I am an outsider, it is easy for people to misinterpret one’s actions as “the outsider is coming in to save all of us”.   Now, at this point, I had two strikes or challenges against me which were outsider and saver.  I knew I had to stay focus on student learning and not make this situation personal. 

During my first year, many teachers did not like me because I was always observing classrooms, meeting and discussing standards and instruction.  New leadership brings new vision and changes.  One major change was the implementation of quarterly district-wide benchmark assessments in every state tested subject area in which teachers hated.  After each benchmark, I facilitated district data analysis meetings where I shared everyone’s data and we discussed strategies, standards, student misconceptions, etc.  Everything was transparent which was a new concept to teachers.  Many of them were use to being isolated and working solo.  They did not want anyone looking at what they were doing.  At the end of my first year, I realized it was not me teachers disliked.  It was the change process they were experiencing.   

It was important for me to closely collaborate with lead teachers because other teachers respected and listened to them.  Lead teachers are the key to infiltrating the culture and building trust among the department.  I would collaborate and share ideas with the lead teachers and get input before meeting the all teachers.  I wanted buy in from them so it would be a smooth transition with the entire department.   However, I realized that ineffective teachers did not want to change and resisted most if not all suggestions.  In any change process, there will be resistors. 

An issue for a new leader is to figure out which leadership style would be appropriate and necessary for the culture.   All situations call for the leader to respect and value people’s perceptions, however, every situation does not call for a democracy approach to establishing a plan.  There are times when expectations and plans are communicated with little input or collaboration.   .  I believe different situations call for different leadership styles.  As I reflect on my first year, I feel I could have collaborated more with “all” teachers and provided them more opportunities for input, but, I had little trust in them as a whole because evidence showed that many of them were complacent and blamed students for low test scores.  With my direct approach and holding everyone accountable, after my first year, test scores improved in both math and science on the average of 20 percentage points.  Lead teachers and those who wanted to make a difference let me know that they appreciated me and that they needed someone who will hold them accountable.