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The association for administrators, district superintendents, principals, assistant principals, supervisors and those who support the public schools of Florida. |
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MESSAGE FROM FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JIM WARFORDOriginally published Friday, June 19, 2009.  Researchers studied changes in recent years in eight urban school systems: New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Paul, Houston, Seattle, Oakland and San Francisco. They found significant improvement in New York City and particularly in the city's middle schools. Major management reforms have been implemented in New York schools under Chancellor Joel Klein. As Florida's K12 Chancellor, I had the opportunity to meet with Chancellor several times. We both agreed on one thing: principals are the key. Mayor Bloomberg gave Chancellor Klein the authority to put his ideas into action. Chancellor Klein aggressively shifted power from the central office to individual principals, including power over budget, staffing, curriculum and schedules. Starting with 28 schools in 2004, by 2007 it included all 1,467 NYC schools. As a result, New York City principals now control, on average, 86% percent of their budgets, compared to only 6% in 2001. Principals used this new power to reorganize their schools' curriculum and scheduling with dramatic decreases in the number of students that each teacher taught... and all without increasing their school budgets. Recent test results show that principal autonomy and accountability have produced significant gains. The study cites another key. New York City invested in training by creating The New York City Leadership Academy. The study's author, William Ouchi, is a Distinguished Professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and he cites the Leadership Academy as the best leadership program in the country. Florida's legislature could learn something from New York City. I know I did. You will find more information about this link: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/06/07/2009-06-07_at_the_head_of_the _class_.html?print=1 Previous Messages from the Executive Director
September 3, 2010
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