Mike Goddard: Understanding Quality Education

I woke up early this Cambridge, MA morning to a significant amount of fog and overcast. Later in the day the fog lifted, the clouds dissipated and the sun began to shine. Little did I know that was symbolic of how my day at the Harvard Principal Institute would replicate that same pattern in my thinking and perspective.

Much of the day today was dedicated to the necessity to define and understand quality instruction. Not only the level of quality instruction, but in making sure you and your campus have a common language regarding quality instruction. You know it theoretically, but until you practice it and you fully recognize the lens that you see through, you can make no progress forward.

This afternoon Richard Elmore led us through data that showed the necessity for a sense of urgency in the way we are educating our students. One critical point that was drawn from our discussion was: are we an institution that of educational subtraction (meaning does our students intellectual capacity actually digress over time or remain stagnate) or are we adding to the value of the students educational experience.

It is critical that we "confront the brutal facts", as Jim Collins says in Good to Great . The facts on a national scale, a state scale, a district scale and at the most impactful level our own campus level.

Michael Goddard