Now is the Time to Lead: Michigan's Merit Curriculum Encourages True Leadership

True leadership is about having the vision, desire, and capacity to adapt to changing times. With the forever-changing dynamics of public education, school boards must constantly test their leadership. School board members are flooded with new mandates, changing legislative initiatives, testing requirements, technology, and much more. Not only do school board members come with their own thoughts, values, attitudes, and perceptions, they must also be sensitive to the issues of the entire board, community, staff, and students.

Starting this year, schools must revamp their high school requirements and curriculum offerings to comply with state law—the Michigan Merit Curriculum. This is a big change for some school districts and a small change for others. Nonetheless, the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) is working with districts across the state on policy changes, communication strategies, and strategic decision-making. Most likely schools will need to adjust personnel, provide opportunities for online learning, require a larger number of rigorous math courses, and more—in addition to any requirements already imposed by the localboard. This change doesn’t mean just rearranging some classes and shuffling some teachers; it truly means preparing kids earlier to compete and be successful in the high school environment.

“We need to put a greater emphasis on high school graduation in our middle schools by starting the students early in their math requirements. These changes in graduation requirements represent education reform, not high school reform,” explains Paul Sander, board member from Southgate Community Schools.

According to Learning Experiences in School Renewal, a book by researchers Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun, real school improvement will not come about by national incentives or state mandates. Real school improvement will come about only by sustained local work—starting with the school board. Mandates and funding can spur change, but without a clear, board-supported vision, change is almost impossible to implement. Every decision must be based on the needs—present and future—of students.

Michigan school boards are hard at work making the best decisions for the kids they serve. Local school boards have always been proponents of rigor and relevance that result in student achievement. School boards are already responsible at the local level for goal setting, policy development, planning and budgeting, curriculum, appraisal, and community relations, which can be translated and applied to the new Michigan Merit Curriculum.

There are still many unanswered questions facing local boards. Michigan is one of the first states implementing such widespread change, so there are few role models to emulate or from which to learn. Many boards want to know what constitutes a credit, how the state or colleges and universities will continue to support efforts of local districts and help students finish college in two or four years, how a district can document Algebra I credits in a building trades class, and whether jobs will be available in Michigan for graduates.

Anita Osterman, a 15-year veteran board member from Fremont Public Schools, is happy to be part of such a positive change for kids, but recognizes the need to better prepare students for college and work. “There should be a gradual change to the new requirements,” she says.

And with the goal of producing more college graduates, she is concerned with Michigan’s economy and employment opportunities.

“How will the state help college graduates find jobs in Michigan?” Osterman said. “Or, are these college graduates that we on the local level help to achieve greater skills, going to be employed in other states? How does that help Michigan’s economy grow?”

School leaders must be persistent, patient, collaborative, and possess a clear focus and vision of the future. Change is a work in progress. No matter how one feels about the new requirements, this is a pivotal time for true leadership to surface.

Jennifer Rogers is the Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Michigan Association of School Boards—a nonprofit association that provides quality educational leadership services for all boards of education and advocates for student achievement and public education. For more information, contact: Jennifer Rogers, Michigan Association of School Boards, 1001 Centennial Way, Suite 400, Lansing, MI 48917-9279, (517) 327-5900, jrogers@masb.org.