The optimistic rhetoric of reform: Why principals believe and teachers...not so much.

The only thing surprising about the findings is that the researchers were surprised by the findings.

In Kentucky, principals are the most important, and most vulnerable, folks in school reform. In recent years principals who do not conform to the optimistic rhetoric of reform find themselves quickly marginalized, and if their "numbers" are not good enough, they are (soon) no longer principals.

Since KERA, principals no longer have tenure as administrators. They retain tenure as teachers only. That means that if a superintendent is willing to demote a principal (rather than moving for dismissal) it can be done with the snap of a finger. That gets the principals' attention very effectively. Any comment that might undermine the superintendent's confidence in the principal's commitment is...well...just not smart. We're talking kool-aid here.

Teachers can certainly be pressured too. But they do not share the principal's job insecurity. For them, the pressure comes from the principal.

This was an intentional, and perhaps necessary part of the law. Lacking adequate resources and facing a need for approximately 30% more productivity from the schools, what else can a good superintendent do but motivate? And motivation can take many forms. Praise the conformers. Punish the nonconformers. Monitor progress. The message gets out very effectively. When it comes to school reform, the vast majority of principals are "in the choir."

This from Education Week:

Poll Finds Gaps in Outlooks of Teachers, Principals

Teachers are less likely than administrators to say their students can excel academically, according to a survey released last week showing that educators have strikingly different perspectives on students and school life.

The study of 4,700 teachers and 267 principals and assistant principals in 12 school districts was conducted by the Council of Urban Boards of Education, part of the Alexandria, Va.-based National School Boards Association, in an effort to gauge school climate. It was intended to complement a survey of students last year. ("Reactions to School Climate Vary by Students’ Races," April 5, 2006.)

Nearly all the administrators agreed that “students at this school are capable of high achievement on standardized exams,” but only three-quarters of the teachers concurred. Far more teachers than administrators said that students were not motivated to learn.

Findings Called Surprise

Eighty-five percent of administrators disagreed with the statement that most students at their schools would not be successful at community college or a university; only 58 percent of teachers disagreed.

Those gaps surprised Brian K. Perkins, the principal researcher on the study and the chairman of the council’s steering committee.

“This wasn’t anticipated, but it is certainly real,” he said. “Now the question is, what do teachers know to give them a perspective administrators don’t have, and how can that be shared?”