Meet Dr. Gregory Thornton
Tonight, both in person at the Stanford Center, and on television Seattle citizens were introduced to Dr. Gregory Thornton. My personal reaction was quite mixed. I saw and heard passion and a strong background in educational reform research. But I heard few specifics and lots of platitudes. No discussion of financial management, accountability, or ethics. No discussion of changing organizational culture.
My favorite phrase of the evening was that we need to "Close the gap and raise the bar." Dr. Thornton also spoke passionately about principals as "change agents" for public education whose top priority must be as "instructional leaders." Still, I'd love to know more about how/if that really works in Philadelphia.
His close relationship with Microsoft and other corporations, which he highlighted tonight, give me some concern. The district needs strong partnerships with business, but we need a superintendent who is leading the charge for reform, involving businesses as appropriate, not pandering to business' wishes or being lead by corporate agendas.
Nina Shapiro has an interesting short post on the Seattle Weekly blog: Their Problem With The Supe.
Linda Thomas' blog on the PI has had some interesting threads about the finalists for the superintendent job the last couple of days.
First up, Dr. Gregory Thornton
Get involved with the Superintendent hiring - kind of
The Finalists
And other recent articles about the two candidates for superintendent include:
Reader response Ask superintendent candidates questions (Times)
Superintendent finalists described as decision makers (PI)
Board to close door to talk with finalists for schools chief (Times)
Candidate Thornton came under scrutiny for Africa trip (Times)
Picking a superintendent: reaching beyond résumés (Times)
Seattle Schools: Improved process (PI)
All together now ... (Times)
Schools-chief finalists have faced tough tests (Times)
Others' thoughts?
If you missed the broadcast tonight, the meetings with both candidates will be re-broadcast on Saturday, April 7th at 7 pm and on Sunday, April 8th at 10 am and 3 pm.
Send your thoughts on the candidates for superintendent to superintendentsearch@seattleschools.org.
My favorite phrase of the evening was that we need to "Close the gap and raise the bar." Dr. Thornton also spoke passionately about principals as "change agents" for public education whose top priority must be as "instructional leaders." Still, I'd love to know more about how/if that really works in Philadelphia.
His close relationship with Microsoft and other corporations, which he highlighted tonight, give me some concern. The district needs strong partnerships with business, but we need a superintendent who is leading the charge for reform, involving businesses as appropriate, not pandering to business' wishes or being lead by corporate agendas.
Nina Shapiro has an interesting short post on the Seattle Weekly blog: Their Problem With The Supe.
Linda Thomas' blog on the PI has had some interesting threads about the finalists for the superintendent job the last couple of days.
First up, Dr. Gregory Thornton
Get involved with the Superintendent hiring - kind of
The Finalists
And other recent articles about the two candidates for superintendent include:
Reader response Ask superintendent candidates questions (Times)
Superintendent finalists described as decision makers (PI)
Board to close door to talk with finalists for schools chief (Times)
Candidate Thornton came under scrutiny for Africa trip (Times)
Picking a superintendent: reaching beyond résumés (Times)
Seattle Schools: Improved process (PI)
All together now ... (Times)
Schools-chief finalists have faced tough tests (Times)
Others' thoughts?
If you missed the broadcast tonight, the meetings with both candidates will be re-broadcast on Saturday, April 7th at 7 pm and on Sunday, April 8th at 10 am and 3 pm.
Send your thoughts on the candidates for superintendent to superintendentsearch@seattleschools.org.
Comments
But more importantly, why does that matter? I shared my impressions based on what I saw and heard and invited others to do the same.
What are your impressions?
That's EXACTLY what concerned me. I understand that he doesn't know enough about Seattle to be too specific, but he could have been applying for a job in any city with the generic answers I heard last night.
I enjoy your blog!
Shouldn't you be saying....Beth thank you for taking time away from your busy life and family and going to the meeting. And, thank you for sharing the information from the meeting with us on this blog.
Sheesh!!! What happened to manners. This isn't Beth's job. We don't pay her a salary to perform. She is a volunteer. A mother. We should be thankful for whatever we get, even if it's only 1/3 of a meeting.
I love the information age with all of it's technology, but the ability to be anonymous gives people the ability to be ugly and then hide.
Thanks, Beth, for all you do
Does he mean that this is a minimum that we will enforce? Is he saying that students who don't meet the third grade Standards - the minimums - by the end of the third grade will not be promoted to the fourth grade?
Does he mean that the Standards are a minimum so we will expect students to work beyond the Standard? Would that mean that we need to support students working beyond Standards? Wouldn't that louse up the vertical articulation and the Standardized curriculum as some third grade students are doing third grade work and others are doing fourth grade work? And if they do fourth grade work in the third grade, then what will they do in the fourth grade?
If you are going to watch the program this weekend, you might want to wait to read the following. It might be better to let your first information be your own perception.
From my notes:
-open, gregarious, admits mistakes and says he learns from them. I felt the surge I first felt for John Stanford. (Note: Stanford was just not superintendent longer enough to judge his legacy. But, he was inspirational enough to move people across the spectrum.) This ability to reach out to many people is no small thing and could jumpstart this district.
-Issue of privitization: they have a lot of it in Montgomery County, not so much Philly. But, in the end, it is about excellence. What is the plan and how will you get there? He acknowledged that it unlikely to happen here in the form of charters. He left it with the need to realize that schools can need individual interventions.
Collaboration with Community Colleges: he sits on the Board of a community colleges group in Philly. Give a very strong answer and was enthused.
Closing the achievement gap: you must drill deeply for the best data to pinpoint how to help a specific group or school. Go to the root causes. "Literacy is the new civil rights issues." "It's got to be about cradle to classroom." (On that point he had a good idea which, I believe they do in Philly. Hand out, from the district, a book to every baby born in the city with developmental benchmarks and what parents can do to help their babies, plus info on the schools and local libraries.) He talked about extended days for kids who struggle and taking away barriers for advanced classes AND adding support to those kids who may try them and struggle.
Relationship with SB and superintendent: It's about responsibility, accountability and authority. He would sit down and have a long talk about who is assigned what roles. He said there needs to be clarity in communication and candor always. He said transparency is also a key factor so the Board is never surprised by what he is doing.
Community input: He wants families and communities at the table to frame and share the discussion. He acknowledged that he wouldn't always be able to include the public (for example, in security issues). He said something here that really spoke to me. He said that the community is always here. That many people in the room had been committed to this district 10, 20 years and that superintendents come and go and boards do as well but the community always remains and that should stay in a superintendent's mind.
ESL - a less clear answer. Spoke about using different tactics. Said statistically immersion doesn't work but in many cases has worked. He said some of these kids are being assessed on things they had no exposure to in their lives. He also said that some kids aren't even literate in their own language and that becomes a double barrier for them.
Site-based management; He spoke of a book "Powerful Reforms" and said transformations happen around principas. His issue with site-based management is that now we have high stakes accountability which changes how much leeway principals can have. He was also firm that they can't let kids suffer if the principal isn't working out/doing the job. He said he struggles with the issue because "how do you keep score if every school has a different playbook". He said in Philly they have a empowerment program (sounds like an earned autonomy program) for schools that have a proven record of continuing success.
Heros: asked for 5 heros and 5 favorite books
Coretta Scott King, Malcolm X and his dad
The World is Flat, Tipping Point, Race Matters, Good to Great and Built to Last
High achievers: he flatly stated that we need bright kids because they drive classrooms. He said we need to lift the bar and help more kids over it even if they need extra help. (He developed gifted programs in at least 3 of the districts he has worked in.)
Family involvement issues: liked the Joyce Epstein model of interlocking roles
Race and class: teachers may not have the cultural competencies they need to reach all kids and it's the district duty to help them get there. The skills need to be genuine. He said this is an issue everywhere he goes and that it cannot be shied away from or ignored.
Latino community experience: pretty weak on this answer but did say that many minority children need to see more kids like themselves or teachers like themselves. He said their district recruited in Puerto Rico and Columbia to find Spanish-speaking teachers.
Developing/mentoring principals: "That's the whole focus because principals are an agent of change in education."
Alternative Ed: very weak answer, not sure he understood the question. Did mention School Stat program in Philly where all schools get regular feedback on different measures (not just a WASL score) so it can be determined if they are succeeding.
Seattle nice: He said he wasn't sure, because of the longevity of the market share, that it could change. But he said that shying away from issues, being too nice, isn't the way to get people back. Excellence will get them back.
Okay, so what did I think? I think yes, he could do the job. I think he would reach out to many groups. I forgot which question but he has close contacts (he knows Steve Ballmer) with Microsoft. Whether you think that good or bad, he comes already with contacts in place. It seemed a bit name-dropping to both Beth and myself but as I reflected on it I thought that you need to pull out every trick in your bag to try to get the job. Some things will impress some and annoy others.
I worry some about privitization issues. I was unhappy no questions came out (they were screen by staff) about fiscal management or district/senior leadership accountability. He did mention in one question that he was in charge of all the grant area in his current job and they had $100M in grants. He seemed very assuring on this point that money was out there and that programs had to be developed to sustain themselves AFTER the money left.
He mentioned Seattle's and Washington state's SAT scores and showed that he had done some homework to know this district.
Frankly, I don't believe there's a perfect candidate. He has been a teacher, a principal, an academic officer, an assistant superintendent. I felt his energy the entire time he spoke. I did not feel he is too smooth (indeed he made several grammatical errors). I tried to take into account he had been on the go probably the whole day.
Personally I believe Dr. Goodloe-Johnson has a high bar to get over. I think I could support Dr. Thorton.
Melissa - didn't understand below - pls. enlighten us - thanks.
Family involvement issues: liked the Joyce Epstein model of interlocking roles
Melissa -