Managerial and Operational Solutions in Schools 

Wana L. Duhart - May 21, 2009
Columnist EducationNews.org

The vast majority of teaching professionals and public school administrators are very good at teaching our children and understanding the intricacies of K-12 education. Their knowledge in areas such as curriculum design, cognitive development, and learning differences defines what is so unique about educators. As many of these professionals move beyond the classroom and into supervisory and managerial roles, their competence and effectiveness have not been as evident. Although some long time classroom instructors have become remarkable school administrators, the largest percentage of them lack the capacity and insight to be successful principals and superintendents. The time spent by teachers and administrators in schools of education and professional development programs to assist them in their new roles has been relevant, but it has not translated into measurable effectiveness for them as school managers and leaders. History continues to inform us that a person who excels as a teaching professional does not always experience the same level of excellence as a school administrator. Classroom teachers are gifted in many areas of education but what we have witnessed for years is that their talents are not necessarily transferable to areas of school management and oversight. 

The set of skills needed to manage staff and school operations are not the same as those used to teach and motivate students in a classroom -- engaging and nurturing young people's minds is not even close to being the same as motivating and supervising adults or managing a school or district. Overseeing a school budget not only requires a measure of financial competence but an ability to manage costs, assets, and expenses as well. Similarly, effective hiring and evaluation of personnel utilizes a set of skills and human resource training that tend toward tenure and experience in the human resources field. While the uniqueness of school populations and operations warrant different and careful considerations, many school systems and processes can be enhanced by importing administrative and operational features that are routinely employed throughout private industry. Private companies are very good at financial management and planning and could surely work with area schools to assist with their annual budgeting and financing activities. As school leaders continue to ramp up their teacher corps, they should reach out to human resource professionals from other industries who specialize in developing training and evaluation programs that accommodate cross-training and incentives for experienced and new personnel.

Large industrial and service corporations whose operations expand across multiple countries utilize distribution, communications, and reporting systems that provide information and data in a timely and accurate manner. Public school administrators can learn a great deal from these multinational firms, especially in terms of their capacities to deliver goods and services to customers across continents simultaneously. The globalization of knowledge, information, cultures, and markets call for education formats that enable school age youth to exchange and dialogue with their peers in other parts of the world -- how to achieve this goal is often beyond the domain of school principals and superintendents. Global firms are indeed purveyors of state-of-the-art technology systems that can be shared with schools to assist them in developing ways of establishing learning protocols which link classrooms and schools transnationally. Student learning cross-culturally and across school districts is critical in this century and can be accomplished if school managers are willing to partner with those in private industry who have shown great efficacy in this regard. Similarly, private enterprise's capacity to realize economies of scale and synergies across geographically distinct divisions and subsidiaries bodes well for superintendents who hope to allocate finite resources across an entire school district.