Power Over or Power With

One of the keys to success at the building level is employing the “Power with Approach” to your daily and long term planning. With this approach, you must include your staff as part of your team or better thought of as “Our Team”. Many administrators at the building level and; more particularly, at the district level practice a more “Power over Approach” to their planning and every day activities. Many years ago when I was a teacher in Absecon, NJ, Bob Longo, Superintendent, reminded me of these points many times. As a teacher, I came to admire his approach of involving stakeholders; and in particular, his instructional staff in the decision making process. In those days, we didn’t call them Professional Learning Communities; however, our meetings were professional and there was always an open dialogue. The success of the students and; therefore, the district itself had much to do with this “power with approach”.

What is your approach? Are you a teller or a listener? True school improvement begins in the classroom and; therefore, instructional staff must have a real say in what is happening in their respective schools.