Leadership Matters - October 2014

Judging from his desk, it’s not like Superintendent Mark Cross has lots of time to write letters.

can very much be a distraction from what matters most. These initiatives are based on good intentions and are cloaked in the concept of accountability, but unfortunately most do little to actually improve teaching and learning. Most are designed to assess, measure, rank and otherwise place some largely meaningless number on a child or a school or a teacher or a district. That is not to say that student growth data is not important. It is very critical, and it is exactly why we have our own local assessment system in place. It is what our principals and teachers use to help guide instruction and meet the needs of your kids on a daily basis. In other words, it is meaningful data to help us teach your child.” The Missouri Association of School Administrators requested his permission to send his letter to school superintendents in the “Show Me” state, and the letter attracted the attention of local and national media, including the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post. The Trib headline read “Common Core criticism ‘struck a chord,’ Peru school chief says.” But Cross clarified that the letter really wasn’t even a swipe at Common Core.

“It was about the over-reach of the feds and the state,” he said. “I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be national standards or that the state and feds don’t have some role, but it’s been flipped on its head with things like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.” It might surprise some to know that Cross is a firm believer in accountability for public schools. “I am a big believer in accountability,” he said. “But I think we should be accountable primarily to the people who are paying for our schools, and in most cases in Illinois that would be local taxpayers and the locally elected boards of education.” Cross said that student test scores should be a part of that accountability, but not the only part or not even the biggest part. He thinks a survey of parents, which his district utilized this summer, is another way to measure accountability. As the superintendent of a pre-K-8 elementary district, he thinks hearing from the staff at the junior high and high school regarding how well prepared their students are is another good measure. When he was a principal at Roanoke- Benson High School, they surveyed their former

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