The three-year course will be tuition-free and conducted in collaboration with faculty members from the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The idea is to develop dynamic new leaders who will offer the creativity, intellectual rigor and professionalism that is needed to help transform public education in the U.S.What's refreshing is the new program's perspective that 21st century schools will require administrators who know how to manage like a MBA while still having knowledge of teaching and telling. That's just common sense, some might say. However, for the last decade the conventional wisdom has been those who run school systems do not need to know much about pedagogy. Kudos to the Wallace Foundation for investing in Harvard’s more balanced approach to preparing senior leaders for school systems, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.
As the leader of an organization committed to making accomplished teachers full partners in school reform, my next thought is: Where is the high-profile approach to developing senior education leaders who still teach students? My New York City colleague Ariel Sacks, a young teacher in our Teacher Leaders Network, explores this same question in her blog On the Shoulders of Giants, drawing on the example of her father, a doctor who combines health research and consulting with a small patient practice "to keep it real." As is so often the case, Ariel's post has attracted thoughtful comments from her blog readers and from within our TLN Forum discussion group.
Ariel, by the way, is one of 12 talented teachers working on a book about the future of teaching to be published by Teachers College Press next year. Read Ariel’s blog and consider the possibilities of developing a cadre of "teaching leaders" who work in hybrid roles (in less hierarchical school systems) and are able to lead from within and without the classroom.
