海角大神

Once upon a time, a principal was the seldom seen person behind the voice on the PA system 鈥� remote, mysterious, a little scary. The principal鈥檚 office was the place not to be sent. In the days of corporal punishment, a visit could mean a whack with a paddle. In more enlightened times, it could mean a stern talking-to and a call to the parents. (A couple of trips and I knew I didn鈥檛 want to go back 鈥� and didn鈥檛.)

A principal is a boss. As with any boss, at one time it was normal for a principal to be holed up in an office, buffered by secretaries and assistants, making policy, holding meetings, and generally running the business end of the school. Today, as you鈥檒l see in Peg Tyre鈥檚 year-in-the-life profile of charter school principal Krystal Hardy (click here to read it), a principal is often in the trenches with students and teachers.

That鈥檚 not just because being hands-on is the modern approach to being a boss. The relentless emphasis on the data-driven performance of students, teachers, and schools 鈥� the measuring of progress by test scores and evaluation forms 鈥� has, for better or worse, made principals directly responsible for the success of their schools.聽

If you step back a moment, you鈥檒l recognize a trend. Hierarchy everywhere is being flattened. Partly, that is the result of cost-cutting and technology; partly, it鈥檚 today鈥檚 management mantra. Everyone in a workplace is now required to roll up his or her sleeves, show results, and improve the brand. (Some organizations have done away with hierarchies altogether. The company that makes Gore-Tex operates without a chain of command. A more radical approach, known as 鈥淗olacracy,鈥� features no bosses at all. Zappos, the online shoe retailer owned by Amazon, is trying it.)

There will always need to be a buck-stops-here person, even in the most cutting-edge company, but the boss role is now more about coaching than managing. That鈥檚 Ms. Hardy鈥檚 approach 鈥� developing, encouraging, getting directly involved when necessary, disciplining if she has to, but also stepping back so others can step forward.

Still, there鈥檚 that data. Schools track attendance, behavioral issues, and, most important, student performance relative to other students in math, science, reading, and other disciplines. Data is indifferent to the ingredients that produce it 鈥� management theories, organizational morale, new technology, individual effort. It is a pitiless measuring device.

That, of course, tempts some teachers and principals to 鈥渢each to the test,鈥� to use formulas and memory aids to help students solve problems. There鈥檚 a place for that (multiplication tables and handy rules like 鈥渋鈥� before 鈥渆鈥� except after 鈥渃鈥� have saved many a day). But education is really about teachers and students exploring ideas in a disciplined manner. As that famed educator Socrates said, 鈥淓ducation is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.鈥�

Krystal Hardy is kindling that flame. Good test scores have to follow, even if not immediately. If not, maybe there鈥檚 something wrong with the test.