For my country music fans, there is an old Kenny Rogers song called, “The Gambler.” I always thought it was great metaphor for what the principalship is. The lyrics of the song talk about knowing when to hold them, and knowing when to fold them, knowing when to walk away, and knowing when to run. As principals, you live that adage every day. You make judgments on the fly, with limited information. You often rely on instinct, reading the faces of students, parents, and teachers. You must decide if they are trying to bluff, call you, or are really holding all the cards. Sometimes in the world, you win a hand or a big pot. Maybe you wagered on a young teacher who turned out to be a superstar and won a big pot. One of the constants of this is that there is always a new day and a new hand every day. Seldom are any two days the same. For me, this daily uncertainty and different challenges are what make the job interesting and exciting.
If you play poker long enough, you will have some tough streaks where it seems like every hand works against you and every decision you make is a losing hand. There will be times when you get on a roll, the hot streak, and every decision is a winner. Both of these balance out over a career. Often in a career though, there will come a time when you must make tough decisions. In poker, it’s that time when you must decide am I all in? Am I willing to take my entire pot and push it into the middle of the table and let it ride, or do I play it safe, take my winnings and go home. The interesting thing about this is that this moment can come when you are riding a hot streak or when you are down to your last hand.
In the course of a career, this point will come and that is what I want to talk to you about today. When was the last time you were all in? What did you do? What were the stakes? History is full of stories of people who have gone all in. Bill Gates, dropping out of college and starting Microsoft; Columbus sailing into the unknown to find a new world; and Harriet Tubman risking all along the Underground Railroad. Our nation was built by people who were all in. Going all in though does not have to be a historical event. In our personal and professional lives, we are often faced with the decision to be all in.
Let me give you two personal examples. The first happened when I was applying for this job. In North Carolina, most superintendent searches are private with little public input until the candidate is announced. Initially, this one was not much different until the finalist round. There was lot of pressure to announce the finalist and to introduce the individual to the public. Because of this, I was asked if I would be willing to meet with business leaders and do a public “meet and greet.” As a sitting superintendent who was successful, this was a dilemma. If I did not get the position, there was a good chance that I could damage the relationship I had built in my district. People in Catawba County would be wondering when I was leaving or what didn’t New Hanover County like about him; is there a problem we need to know about? Or why do we need to listen to him if he’s looking to get out? After considering all of this, I decided if I applied for the position, I needed to be all in. It turned out to be the right decision and here we are today.
The other example is when I was a high school principal and I was ready for the next challenge. I was frustrated because I could not break through to a central office position in North Carolina. I saw an application for a superintendent’s position in remote northern New Hampshire. I had no central office experience, but the district was small, in fact, smaller that the high school I ran. I decided to apply and to my surprise I was selected. I then had to convince my family to move. None of them had ever lived farther north than West Virginia, or that far from civilization. Additionally, I had no central office experience. It turned out to be a great experience that provided the foundation for my being here.
Professionally, the idea of being all in is just as appropriate. After my first year as principal we had not progressed and in some areas had stepped back. To turn this around we needed to change dramatically. To do this I made the decision to go all in with High Schools That Work and refocus our school around tech prep and data-driven decision making. We moved teachers, created interdisciplinary teams, and had honest conversations about our data. After three years, we went from 49% proficient to over 60% proficient. We, as a school, were all in.
That is my challenge to you tonight, I need you to be all in for your students. The challenge to education has never been greater. We as a nation and community are at a crossroads. Public education is under assault from all sides. One critic derided us as “government schools” that are entrenched bureaucracies more interested in pay than students. This assault on public education requires greater effort on our part. We need to talk about our successes and there are many. We are graduating more students at a higher level than any time in our nation’s history. In 1940, only 25% of Americans had at least a high school diploma compared to more than 80% today. We have ended segregation, more students are going to college, the curriculum is far more rigorous than at any time in the last 50 years. Our elementary students are reading at an earlier age and doing high-level math in earlier grades. Special education students have gone from being put out of school to being an integral part of our schools. Our educational system has helped make us the most competitive nation in the world with the highest standard of living in human history. This is evidenced by the number of people who are trying both legally and illegally to move here.
We need to be advocates for our children and for public education. We need to be all in and not willing to fold for small gains. We may lose some hands, but in the end, I believe that if our system is going to be the premier system in the state or the nation, then we must be willing to risk it all. As the leaders in your schools and community, people look to you to make decisions and they will take their lead from you. If you play it safe, they will play it safe. If you take risk for students, they will take risk for students. Let me share an example of this in action.
This is an email that one of you sent to your staff and I think it reflects exactly what I am talking about:
Team -
The testing process is a science, if you will. There is an easy way, and then there is our way. We could line up four days and take a shotgun approach, then retest afterwards. It would take about a week. It would be rushed, but easy. That will give us some data that is not reflective of our best efforts. That will tell a story about our school that is fictitious. We can do (and have done) better than that.
By isolating a subject area, we receive all of our specific subject data in one day. We can identify who passed the test, who came close to passing the test, and who needs a lot more work. We can then develop a remediation strategy to ensure the success of more students by looking at that data, creating differentiated study groups, and allowing teachers to have access to those students who need specific help. Algebra I has been doing this for the last few days. English I has been doing the same. Biology begins their remediation today. As opposed to waiting a week to find out who needs what type of remediation, our high stakes teachers know their status in a day. Then, they do what they do best: attack the weak areas.
Is this more difficult? Yes, it is. Does this place more demands on our staff? Absolutely. Being successful in anything often is the result of some sort of pain, some kind of struggle, or some type of sacrifice. Refusing to settle for mediocrity costs more. We pay that price with our efforts, by pulling together and supporting each other. Do you know why? Because these are not just EOC scores. These are OUR scores. I have kids come to me and tell me that the only reason they come to school is because of chorus, or maybe a Foods class. While they are here, they are hooked, and many happen to come across their EOC class. This is when those high stakes teachers go to work. Without the non-tested teacher, however, that kid may never get to the EOC class. It takes the team. All of us.
This last paragraph is the kicker for me:
Personally, I refuse to fail at any challenge I take on. That is not how I am wired. I hope you are the same way. This school will be no different, for me. We are going to continue to push, to work, to demand more of ourselves, and to pay the price for success. We do not settle for anything less than our best efforts, and the expectations will never come down. For the next two and a half days, I challenge you all to finish the semester strong. We start over again next Tuesday, but we have few ticks left on the clock before this one is over. Coming out on top is the only option.
Unlike the song, we are not playing for the dollars in the pot, but for the future of the students we serve, so I need you to be willing to go “all in” for your students.
