Living the ABCs of Running a School
Nonprofit Program Is Helping Prince George's Schools Train New Principals

By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

It was a few minutes before 9:30 a.m., and Glynis Jordan had already had a busy day patrolling the halls of Fairmont Heights High School. She'd shepherded kids to class, sent one boy to detention because he was running late, sent another back to his locker to put on a school uniform and covered a class for a teacher who wasn't there.

Jordan, a 12-year veteran of middle and high school classrooms and now a trainee in a program that embeds experienced educators in schools for a year to learn how to become principals, this was all part of learning the ropes.

So was what happened next.

"Security to the career center," a female voice squawked through Jordan's radio. "Security to the career center, please."

Jordan, a tall woman in a dark brown top, jeans and brown shoes, comfortable clothes for a job that requires her to be moving constantly, walked quickly down the hallway. When she found the room, she knocked on the door, not knowing what was on the other side. It turned out to be a classroom where a substitute had lost control.

"You can't be afraid of them," Jordan said later. "You can't have one ounce of fear, or you lose the whole school."

That's one lesson Jordan has absorbed in her first semester at Fairmont Heights, where she is a trainee in the nonprofit New Leaders for New Schools program. In return, she has won the grudging respect of students at Fairmont Heights. This is a skill she will need if she takes command of her own high school next year.

A few years ago, Fairmont Heights, a school of slightly more than 1,000 students just east of the District, was a mess, security officers and teachers recalled. There were wires hanging from the ceilings and students hanging out in the halls. Test scores were abysmal; in 2004, 5.1 percent of the students who took a state math proficiency test passed.

Peggy Nicholson, the principal and Jordan's mentor, took charge two years ago and is credited with cleaning up the school. Serious challenges remain -- 35 percent of the students passed the state math test last year -- but teachers and other staff members said the school's disciplinary climate has improved markedly.

The New Leaders for New Schools program is built on the idea that leadership like Nicholson's is essential to improving achievement at urban schools. The organization has given intensive training to more than 300 principals in several urban school systems across the country, including the District. This year, the nonprofit organization started training the first of about 28 principals it plans to work into the system over the next three years.

The selection process for the New Leaders program was rigorous. Peter Kannam, head of the nonprofit's Baltimore division, said 129 people applied to be in the Prince George's training program. Sixty-two made it to the first round of interviews. Twenty-one made it to the next round. Five were chosen.

Jordan was one of them. So was Chandra Brown, who was assigned to Seat Pleasant Elementary School, also in Capitol Heights. Although the principals-in-training work with a New Leaders coach, most of the learning is done while dealing with the myriad real-life problems that crop up at a school.

"I think it's been extraordinary," said John E. Deasy, the superintendent of Prince George's schools. "Not only did we get tremendously good people in our cohort, every report in every meeting has been about how well these residents are doing."

For Jordan and Brown, a big part of the job is helping teachers and other staff members do their best in the classroom. They also are trying to master the whole intricate operation of a school.

Brown, her principal, Kasandra Lassiter, and several instructors sat around a small circular table recently and tried to figure out which students needed additional help in reading and math. They were also trying to head off a crisis: Science projects were due next Friday.

All the projects were supposed to be about the Chesapeake Bay. Some were too ambitious. The children had been doing their class work, but nothing was getting done at home. The students hadn't gotten oysters or bay plants or any of the supplies they needed.

"We know they're not working at home, so what are we going to do to get it done here?" Lassiter asked. She answered her own question with a strategy: "Whatever you're working on that doesn't have to deal with that project, you need to get it done. We need to pick topics that are simple, unfortunately, at this point in time."

Sandra Edmonds, a fifth-grade science and math teacher, looked slightly incredulous.

"I just want to know how we're going to do this," Edmonds said.

Lassiter replied, "Have an honest, courageous conversation about what is going to get done."

Later, as Brown visited classrooms in the building, talking with students, she remarked on what she had learned from Lassiter.

"I'm going to feel equipped, because I'm really learning a lot," Brown said. She had been a second-grade and fourth-grade teacher in Prince George's schools for a decade, but training to be a principal gave her another point of view. As a principal, her interactions with teachers -- like Lassiter's with Edmonds -- would be as important as what she did with students.

"I didn't see leadership qualities in myself," she said of her reasons for applying to be a principal. "I just [applied] because I saw it needed to be done."

Jordan applied because, as she put it, being a teacher gave her the chance to affect the lives of a few hundred students. Being a principal would allow her to shape the education of thousands.

In the meantime, she is learning how to take control of a situation, as she did when she went to the rescue of the substitute teacher at the career center.

The substitute, a middle-aged man, opened the door. The desks were jumbled, not in orderly rows. Some students were standing. Jordan strode inside and asked what was going on.

"Dwight was the first one to turn out the lights," the teacher said, pointing to a student who wore a Who, me? expression. "They are trying to peek through the windows."

Jordan asked whether the substitute had any work for the students to do. "They refuse to do it," the teacher said.

The students got angry. "You lying! He lying!" a student protested.

With the students growing restless and the teacher growing flustered, Jordan took charge.

"There's something about my demeanor that says, 'I'm not playing with you,' " Jordan had said before. She is warm and calm with students, but she has a voice of authority she can flick on instantly.

"You all don't listen to the sub, you listen to me now," she said firmly. The class quieted down. "If you have paper, raise your hand." A few did.

"Every person that has paper, give me two sheets," she said. She passed the paper out. "You all have paper. Do what you need to do."

She led five students from the class, all boys, and lined them up against a row of orange and brown lockers. Two of the students weren't wearing their school uniforms.

"Look, I want the two of you to get your uniforms," she told them. They grunted their assent.

"Repeat it for me," she said. They did, grinning sheepishly.

To the other three, she gently said: "When you get back there, just do what it is you're supposed to do."

"Mm-hmm," the students replied.

"I appreciate that," Jordan said.

She let them go back to class and went on her way.