The Hayes Mizell Reader (continued)
Hayes Mizell
directs the Program for Student Achievement of the Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation. For more than a decade, Mizell has been a respected critic
of "business as usual" in America's middle schools. Mizell is
the Distinguished Senior Fellow of the National Staff Development Council.
He is currently closing out his 16-year tenure as Director of the Program
for Student Achievement.
Most members of the current teaching force lack the knowledge, skills, and confidence to provide the quality of education students need and the public is demanding, and it will only get worse unless staff development leaders take action, warns Mizell in a speech to staff developers participating in state-level Staff Development Leadership Councils (February 1999). Mizell urges the "small brave band" of participants to communicate what is and is not good staff development to political leaders and education policymakers. "Somewhere there is a state board of education or local school board chairperson who thinks it would be a good learning experience for their board to observe through a one-way window a focus group of teachers discussing their staff development experiences and how to improve them. They are waiting for your suggestions and your organization of the event." Staff Development That Benefits Student Learning What will it take for staff development to demonstrate that it has the power and potential to improve educators' attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and skills so they benefit student learning? Mizell told the first joint meeting of Staff Development Leadership Council members (December 1998) that: "Staff development is like learning in the sense that it occurs whether or not it is organized and planned, but high quality staff development, like high quality learning, only occurs when people are intentional about it making it happen -- when they are explicit about the results they are seeking to achieve, and when they can subsequently produce evidence to document that they have achieved the desired results." Hiking the Rocky Trail of Reform School systems supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation have made significant progress along the trail of middle grades reform, Mizell told grantees gathered at a retreat in upstate New York in September 1998. But significant barriers remain. Professional development has improved but it is still not adequately assessed. Leaders still devote too much time, energy and money to system issues at the expense of schools and classrooms. And adults are still "too tolerant and too timid" in dealing with other adults who fail to get the job done. "Students understand quite well who should not be leading a classroom or a school, and you too know who these people are, but it is the students, not you, who each year suffer these people's ineffectiveness." Communicating in Education: Getting Beyond the "Blah, blah, blah." In this talk to a group of Clark Foundation grantees attending a communications conference, Hayes Mizell suggests that educators can learn from their own personal relationships as they attempt to improve communication within the school system and out in the community. "School systems are not always clear about what they expect of teachers in standards implementation. . . If teachers don't 'get it,' there is a good chance it is because the school system has not made the effort to communicate its expectations clearly and consistently." What Does It Mean for a Reforming School System
To Get Serious about Parent Involvement? Quite often, even in districts committed to raising student achievement, a district's initiative and coherency on the instructional side is not represented on the parent support side. From e-mail. Is Staff Development a Smart Investment? Originally titled "How Important Is Staff Development?", this December 1997 speech to 2800 educators attending the annual conference of the National Staff Development Council questions whether professional development, as it's currently practiced in most school systems, has much impact on student achievement. "Is staff development simply one more bureaucratic function, one more exercise of going through the motions, just another educational shell game where substance is forever elusive, or does staff development stand apart, with a clear purpose, a focus on results, and is it accountable for achieving those results? Just how important is staff development, not as an ideal, but as a reality?" Also see: "The Components of a Comprehensive Staff Development Plan." THE Priority: Student Learning
If educators and school reformers fail to "learn more and become much more proficient at what we do," Mizell tells representatives from school districts supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, "the middle school students we care about will not perform at the higher levels of which they are capable." Schools will not achieve the results they want, Mizell says, unless they give up bad habits and quit putting other priorities ahead of student learning. (March 1997)
Additional Hayes Mizell Remarks
1. Ordinary People. A perspective on teachers and professional development. "If someone wanted to trace the link between staff development and improvements in student performance, it would be nearly impossible to do so, not only because the link is weak or non-existent, but because enhancing student performance was never a serious goal of staff development." Remarks at the Pre-Collegiate Education Group's 1994 conference, "Re-Engineering Teaching: The Philanthropic Role." October 26-28, 1994. Peachtree City, GA.
2. The Achieving Middle School. Describes the characteristics of a middle school that works for all kids. "The real struggle for middle school reform is within each of us. . . It is more convenient to accept the school as it is than to think about, plan and create the school that could be. . .It is more reassuring to teach than to learn." Remarks at "Clark Day," a conference of representatives from school sytems, schools, and national and community organizations supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. November 5, 1992. San Antonio, TX. 3. Raging Intellects. Middle schools represent the last best hope for influencing the choices young adolescents make. "We are focused not on young adolescents' raging hormones but on their raging intellect. We would like to find a few school systems and communities with the courage to abandon the myths associated with the development stage known as young adolescence." Remarks at a briefing for representatives of Minneapolis community organizations, sponsored by the Minneapolis Public Schools. June 7, 1995. Minneapolis, MN. 4. If It Wasn't Hard, Everybody Would Do It. Educators are quick to find reasons why they can't do what others are doing to improve schools. Tom Hanks' character's remark about effort in A League of Their Own "is a useful reminder for all of us. He said, 'Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everybody would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.' " Remarks at the Atlanta Public Schools' Mini-Conference on Middle Schools on January 24, 1995 . Atlanta, GA. 5. The New Principal. Achieving schools must have a new kind of principal -- one who empowers teachers and students to succeed. "The new principal knows that the most important part of his or her job is to focus the school on student performance, increase the expectations and skills of the faculty, and empower teachers to make reforms which will enhance student performance." Remarks at the The Middle School Principals Institute, Louisville, Kentucky, July 14-15, 1994. 6. What It Will Take. Standards can help middle schools sharpen their academic focus. "Standards will only achieve their purpose if they are practical and useful. They are more likely to be so if they speak to the priorities of both teachers and parents." Remarks at the conference "The Promise of Standards for Middle School Reform," November 18-20, 1994. Raleigh, NC. 7. The Myths of Urban Middle School Reform. Advocates of urban middle school reform must be prepared to give up certain myths, including the myth that students' lives outside of school make success impossible. "The power of the classroom can compete with the power of the streets, but for that to happen we have to fundamentally change what goes on in the classroom." Remarks at the National Middle School Association Regional Conference "Urban Middle Level Reform: It's for the Kids," March 13-15, 1992. Baltimore, MD. 8. Standards in Context. What happens in the superintendent's or principal's office heavily influences the standards implementation process. "There are perennial issues that challenge all school systems, and you must address them if your schools are to have any hope of using standards to raise levels of student performance." Remarks at a conference on standards implementation sponsored by the Council on Basic Education, November 17-19, 1995. Dallas, TX. 9. Epilogue from "Believing in Ourselves: Progress and Struggle in Urban Middle School Reform." Mizell offers the Clark Foundation's perspective after six years' of supporting urban middle school reform. "We lack the magnitude of resources and political leverage to persuade school systems to alter bureaucracies or their priorities, but we are striving to identify urban systems with solid potential to implement standards-based middle school reform." From the 1995 book by Anne C. Lewis. 10. Looking for Leaders. People in school systems and communities are looking for the leadership of successful, committed teachers and principals. "Teachers who lead know they have to change what they teach and how they teach it, and that their schools have to change to make it possible for them to do so. They don't just know these things, they act to make them happen." Remarks at the "Reform Connection," a Clark-sponsored conference held preliminary to the 22nd Annual conference of the National Middle School Association, November 1, 1995, New Orleans, LA. 11. How Much Longer Must Teachers and Students Wait for Good Staff Development? Identifying quality professional development for teachers, based on actual results in the classroom, is critical to the success of education reform efforts, Mizell tells members of a national advisory panel on middle-grades staff development. "There are myriad purveyors of staff development nostrums, quick fixes, and feel-good tonics that promise amazing results at low cost and little effort. It is no wonder that so many school systems, schools, and teachers are currently pursuing these false promises that lead them down blind alleys of wasted time, energy, and resources." (July 1997)
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