Education
Reinventors

Can you introduce yourself and your professional background?
Over the course of 17 years, I’ve been a superintendent in three states and four districts. Prior to that, I was a high school principal, an elementary school principal, and a pre-K through 12 music teacher. I've worked in small districts, large districts, rural districts, and urban environments with lots of diversity.

My leadership approach has evolved dramatically over the years. Somewhere along the way, I came to realize that we often carry into this work antiquated paradigms that are no longer actually accomplishing our mission of serving students. I’ve found that at the start of an educator’s career, they typically play by the rules as they were handed to them. But, as time goes by, we realize that we have to make up some new rules to get ahead.

You’ve recently been focused on graduation rates. Is there a specific reason that led to your interest in this topic?
There was no particular reason. Rather, it was a gradual recognition that, while every district I've ever worked in wants to continue to raise the bar for high achieving students, they also – in the same breath – want to close the achievement gap. That’s a tricky thing to wrap your head around. How do you close the gap and raise the bar at the same time?

A big issue is the way we approach goals versus expectations. For instance, many view the goal of K-12 education as graduating – simply completing the 12th grade. When we talk about graduation as an end goal, we create a mental framework for ourselves that no longer serves kids.

I believe we should treat the completion of the 12th grade as an expectation, not as a goal. For instance, in our district we want to be able to say that our students don’t just graduate with a diploma, but are also accepted to college or have received a military enlistment letter or an industry-based certification. It’s critical that every student has something to do on Monday morning after graduation.

In this framework, graduation is actually the starting point.

What are some strategies your district has developed to get more students to graduation?
There are conceptual and practical strategies. Both are important, but the practices can’t be replicated unless the concepts are clearly understood.

First of all, it’s critical to be very clear about why students struggle. I think about our lowest performing students – the ones who historically might struggle to graduate – as two distinct groups: those who can’t and those who won’t.

Students who can’t have significant obstacles in their way. The list of real obstacles is practically endless. These kids genuinely want to make progress, but they literally cannot do it. Students who won’t may be self-sabotaging. Sometimes it can seem that, no matter what support and obstacle-clearing we do, they’ll continue to self-sabotage.

Our structure tries to sort out can’t and won’t and give them very different supports.

For example, for kids who can’t, we’ve expanded our parent liaison program to get families more involved, especially in the earlier grades. We also created a staff position at every single campus in our district dedicated to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral well-being.

What does support look like for students who won’t?
It’s more about intensity of support. We’ve got to figure out a way to connect with kids who self-sabotage so that they can see the value of an education.

For example, credit recovery systems – aimed at helping students make up credit for failed classes – are used across the board. But within those systems we have a specialized program called the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, which contains a greater discipline structure within the broader credit recovery support structure.

For both groups, our system has been validated. We’ve had virtually no discipline infractions in this past year since deploying our new structure. Attendance rates are at all-time highs. These students are able to achieve greater successes because they’re receiving such targeted support.

We have the data to back it up as well. One thing I like to brag about is that recent data show that if you were a student experiencing homelessness in Victoria ISD, you actually have a better chance of graduating than if you were an average kid, housed or unhoused, anywhere else in our state of Texas. To me, that’s a true testament to our approach being comprehensive and intentional and not just a band-aid.

How have you made sure that students receiving extra support don’t feel out of place or stigmatized?
It’s all about compassion. That’s where we start and end. Passion means “to suffer”. Compassion is “to suffer with”. We have to be real with our kids about our struggles as well. We have to be a part of their suffering.

Expanding on that, the conversation shouldn’t start with what we want from kids, but rather what we want for them. If you start there, you instantly think differently. It’s not that I want you to behave, to show up to school, to do your homework. It’s that I want you to have a bright future, a job you feel connected to, and the feeling that tomorrow has better opportunities than today.

What advice do you have for other superintendents on using concepts like can’t and won’t for students?
My advice to other superintendents is to be very thoughtful and deliberate about how you use this language and make sure to contextualize it to the greatest degree possible. Come up with words that work for you. The words themselves aren’t necessarily important, but rather the key is recognizing and strategizing around the idea that there are two different things happening with kids who struggle.

And, frankly, I do hope that other people share different terminology, because I have no doubt that there are better ways of talking about these issues.

Are there any lasting takeaways you want to leave other superintendents?
I would encourage any education leader who's reading this article to think not just about takeaways but also about “leave-behinds”.

Are you willing to leave behind the systems and structures that are currently in place because they're no longer serving your learners? Because, unless you’re willing to do that, the takeaways aren’t going to be super helpful for you. But if you're willing to leave behind some of those frameworks, then you can start thinking about how best to apply what has worked in Victoria or elsewhere to your district.

Education Reinventors, powered by HP, is a virtual, national community of U.S. superintendents reimagining education leadership in the new normal. We enable superintendents to connect, discuss shared challenges, and brainstorm solutions to improve outcomes for students and community members.

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