17
By Michael Shimshak
Carbondale Elementary District 95
More than anything perhaps, she dreamt about
the brand new school on the west side of the valley in
Ecoporanga, Brazil. She had been there on the day it
opened; terrazzo floors gleaming, brightly painted
steel and masonry, so new, almost sterile. Her mind
raced in circles about all she might do in
that
school.
Her parents could attend evening class to learn
how to read. She could have school all day. For a
minute, she wondered how much better it might be if
her teachers had all they needed. But Sra. Geanne
Darc de Vete Alves had other concerns as she
returned her focus to
her
school, backed up against
the bold, bald, granite-bearing mountains that walled
and
cradled
the
impoverished
community
simultaneously. Something mattered more.
As principal of the school on the east side of the
valley, her first concern was how she could serve her
students and families in poverty better. There weren’t
the resources. Parents were illiterate and worked late
into the evening in the granite mines or on small
dairies. They were unable to help their children with
reading. There were health concerns. She recalled
the cases of Dengue fever, which had plagued the
community in prior years. There were gangs, too,
promoting a drug economy with her students, more
lucrative in the short term than their parents’ labor.
Poverty’s badge was apparent. Still, she
approached each day with courageous enthusiasm,
explaining that her greatest joy is feeling that she is
making a difference in the lives of her students.
What she didn’t know is that across the valley, the
principal of the newly built school occasionally
assessed
his
vista from the west. He secretly envied
a different prize, the
Premio Gestão
Escolar,
one of
the highest honors and most important tools for the
improvement of education in Brazil. The application
process for this award includes documenting
improved academic achievement through leadership
for better instructional practices.
Although his school had all the makings, his
glorious amphitheater was at times a bit lifeless. The
new school gleamed, but his students and families
were still impoverished, indistinguishable from those
across the river on the east side of the mountain. Not
much had really changed with the new school and he
was aware of the progress being made by his
colleague. He hoped for more.
Principal Sra. Darc’s leadership was having an
impact. She’d developed a collaborative culture for
organizational change. She’d nurtured teacher
leaders and teams focused on improving instructional
practices and accepting collective responsibility for
all
students to reach high academic standards. Teachers
met regularly to plan common assessments and
establish curricular objectives. She organized
evening sessions held at the school for community
members to provide literacy and job skills.
Her teachers seek to employ practices known to
have the greatest effect size. Students employ meta
cognitive strategies and engage in hands-on learning.
Three of her students won the state’s prize for
applied mathematics, as they isolated the source of
dreaded, sometimes deadly, Dengue fever in the
community. The school is alive. Staff celebrates their
(Continued on page 18)
Michael Shimshak is in his
third year of leadership as
Superintendent with the
Carbondale Elementary
School District 95 in
Carbondale Illinois. The
district is culturally diverse
and is 72 percent poverty.
His prior superintendent
experience was in Wisconsin,
serving three years in a high
poverty district and, most
recently, 10 years in moderately affluent district.
As part of an administrative exchange program
sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, he
joined nine other American school administrators in
visiting schools in various Brazilian states and
presenting at the 2
nd
Annual International
Educational Exchange and Development Seminar in
São Paulo in the summer of 2013.
As powerfully demonstrated by a principal
in Brazil, leadership really matters
Michael Shimshak
Poverty in the public education classroom
