Principal Dale Rumberger is laying the groundwork for a positive culture at South County Secondary, a new school under construction in Fairfax County, Va. He shared his approach to hiring and leading an entirely new staff in an interview with Terrey Hatcher Quindlen, editor ofEducation Update.
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ASCD: You are in the process of bringing new administrators and teachers together to form a team. How do you communicate a sense of direction and goals?
Rumberger: You start with a vision—the principal should have the initial driving vision of the school. The first administrators who come on board to assist you are the ophthalmologists; they see the dot on the cornea and determine the treatment. Then the department chairs come in; they're the optometrists. They may suggest contacts or eyeglasses. Everybody has to work toward the vision, and each succeeding group helps sharpen the focus.
ASCD: How do you create this vision?
Rumberger: I don't think a vision is formulaic. Good administrators work with their instincts. Vision should be what you want the education product to look like. I'm often asked, "What's the school going to be like?" I spend a lot of time reflecting on that. As a measuring stick, some of us ask, "Would you want your child in an environment like that? Would you want your child learning that?"
A vision comes through understanding. You tap into part of your personal past, without letting it dominate. You attend conferences and learn about successful programs. Whenever I meet someone from a school that's doing incredible things with a quarter of the resources I have, I ask myself, "What can I learn from this person?"
ASCD: You're saying that studying others' successes can open your eyes to new possibilities?
Rumberger: It can open your eyes to not only new possibilities but also new realities. Your reality tends to be your building or your community on any given day. In reality, there are many communities out there, all doing different things.
ASCD: What do you look for when you hire people and how do you get them on the same page with you?
Rumberger: I look for people who have some of my strengths and none of my weaknesses.
I try to understand my staff. After our training for department chairs, I shared a series of images that a friend had sent me. A gazelle is running across an open savannah, and two lions are sitting under a tree. Some other things are in there, too—a monkey, a giraffe looking way up above. One of the lions looks up and smells the gazelle. Then the gazelle hits the tree and knocks himself out cold. I asked my new department chairs, "Which one are you?" One said, "I'm definitely the gazelle." One said, "I'm the lion." And one of them said, "I've been all of them. I've been the lion. I've been the gazelle. I've been the giraffe. Hell, I've been the tree." It was kind of funny, but it gave us a sense of how we're feeling about our new roles and challenges.
I also have a philosophy statement that I share with new staff: "Every student can learn something every day. We are prepared, organized, and energized to teach them. All students have personal worth. All students have equal standing in our academic community." It begins with that and ends with: "We will attain our AYP every year."
ASCD: How do you lead your staff to achieve AYP—the adequate yearly progress requirement of No Child Left Behind?
Rumberger: I articulate it as an expectation. I don't say, "We'll try to meet it." I say, "We will attain AYP." It's a goal for the entire staff, not just the English and math staff. I try to enhance the atmosphere and emphasize that the test is important; we don't schedule the band trip or the invitational track meet during the test. Everybody has to work toward AYP. I'm not necessarily the smartest, hardest working, or most creative person in the building, but we need a combination of people that will be a smart, hard working, and creative team all focused on the same goals.
We are following South County's progress in several issues of Education Update. We'd also like to hear your experiences with building or renovating a school. Send an e-mail to update@ascd.org, and we'll consider publishing your comments.
