Putting the ‘bounce’ back in California schools


School leaders may be the one group of people with both the skill and will to fix the malaise that has been plaguing our state. By George Manthey


A


number of years ago, at the Annual Conference of the Association of American School Personnel Administra- tors being held in Baltimore, the California Delegation


invited the participants to attend the conference the following year in San Diego. To enthuse the crowd the song “More Bounce in California” blasted from the loud speakers and dozens of beach balls rained down from the balcony. In no time the hall was rocking as the participants batted the balls into the air and everyone bounced to the music. You couldn’t wait to get to California and experi- ence our famous “bounce” first-hand. During the last few years I’ve been wondering


what has happened to that bounce. These days in our schools, especially at faculty meetings or in the staff room, one is likely to experience more of a sense of malaise than bounce. I’ve been waiting for that to get fixed. I thought our former governor, the gubernator, might fix it. He certainly promised to. Disappointed, I turned to our Legislature. No bounce there – except for maybe the state checks that started to bounce. I even had high hopes for our state superintendent of public instruction and the State Board of Education. As we all know, it’s hard to bounce a deflated beach ball.


School administrators to the rescue No individual is going to restore California’s bounce, but I


am realizing there is a group of people with the skill and will to do so: California’s educational leaders. Yes, that’s right; school administrators are just the ones who could put the bounce back in California. I think we could do it by making a shift away from high test scores as the prize to truly embracing the skills that will make a difference for the future of our students and the world: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, civility, conscien- tiousness. School administrators of the world unite! Let’s put the emphasis on what we already know matters the most. We can continue to pursue ever increasing API and AYP, and


we should, but it’s time to give up the quest for 100 percent profi- ciency or a 1,000 API score. Until the rules change, almost every school and district will become Program Improvement, if they


haven’t already. Anyone who promises to “get you out of PI” is singing a false promise. It’s the perfect opportunity to seize the day and put the bounce back in California.


Doing much more than what’s required As schools re-open for the 2011-12 school year, imagine what


might happen if the charge superintendents gave to principals, teachers and students went something like this:


Over the last 15 years you have made a tremen-


dous response to a legitimate demand for school accountability. Since the creation of the Academic Performance Index our district has improved from to


.We used to have


% of students who


scored as proficient or advanced, but now we have %. We know how to improve. And now we un-


derstand the academic standards that define for us core knowledge. But now it’s time to ratchet what we have learned to another level. In this district, in our schools, it’s


important to do what is required, but it’s essential that we do much more. It’s essential that we prepare our students to not just live, but to thrive in a new era. It’s a new era where it is impossible to keep up with information, but is possible to develop the advanced criti- cal thinking skills that will allow us to filter, and put to use, that knowledge.


It’s time to put “bounce” back in California schools. And


when we do that, we will put “bounce” back into our nation and our world. It’s time for all of us to be singing these words:


We got more bounce in California – than all you combined. We’re always first in new directions cause Cali leads the way.


And then the superintendent might be the one to throw a


beach ball into the crowd. Let’s make “bounce” our metaphor for a new school reform effort in California. n


George Manthey is assistant executive director, ACSA Educational Services.


September/October 2011 29


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