A Simple, Free, Radical Way to Fix Schools
We’re choosing principals the wrong way.
I remember the moment I decided to quit my job. I had taken over a notoriously impossible 5th grade class; they had run off their original teacher by early September. The principal sent me in because he knew I might be the only teacher at the school who could handle them.
And handle them, I did, though the work was crushingly difficult. I planned, executed, and graded five different lessons every single day for a grade I had never taught before. My students ranged from a 1st grade reading level to a 9th grade one. At least six of them had severe mental health issues. Another six were easy by comparison but would be considered “the bad kid” in any other classroom. It was like teaching a box of firecrackers next to an open flame.
But let me tell you: I loved those kids. And I loved teaching them. And I was good at it.
Was our classroom perfect? Of course not. Did we have bad days? Sure. But at the end of the semester, on every possible growth metric, my students scored in the top third of the school.
Naively, I emailed this data to my principal, hoping for — what? A fist bump, maybe. A visit to my class to tell the students he was proud. Something. Anything.
