The principal at my twins’ middle school gets it. He understands how to make kids succeed.

Research shows that kids who are “connected� to their school are less likely to get into trouble, use drugs, or have emotional problems. And kids who aren’t in trouble, in any sense of the word, are more likely to succeed – in school and life. I’ve read the research, but always wondered how one creates a school that kids connect to.

My kids’ principal knows how. Apparently, it starts with a principal who cares about what students do with their lives outside of the classroom as much as he cares about what scores students get on the ubiquitous standardized tests.

At a time of budget squeezes, not only does he refuse to let music programs wilt, he’s expanding them, and puts everything he can behind two music teachers that should be on every rich private schools recruitment list. Hundreds of kids take part in orchestra, band, jazz band, chorus, chamber singers, and pop choir. The music program not only dominates county competitions, but mops the floor with schools from neighboring states.

I don’t know what he tells his teachers (or maybe he just recruits the right teachers) but they give everything to making sure their students have a rich experience outside of the classroom. One gym teacher is at every home basketball game playing MC, spinning music, announcing line ups, and generally making noise. Other teachers demand that, when their afternoon clubs are finished, all the students go to the home basketball games. That’s why the gym is always packed for boys and girls games, compared to other middle schools where attendance includes only players’ parents and the mouse in the corner.

Examples go on and on. This public school buzzes every day after school with hundreds of kids. And the principal and his teachers do it in a community that is mixed – racially, ethnically, and economically. At a recent vocal music performance, white faces on stage were the minority.

Here’s a principal that gets it. A couple million more like him and no child will be left behind.

(Sorry to have missed this Tuesday, Blogenberg fans. I was traveling.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 11:21 am and is filed under Politics, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The trackback URL for this entry is
http://www.blogenberg.com/2007/05/31/
no-child-left-behind-the-game-the-concert-the-club/
trackback/