Mr. George Thompson, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Schlechty Center, visited Midlothian ISD (Midlothian, TX) February 16 – 18, 2011.
“The Schlechty Center is a private, nonprofit organization committed to partnering with school leaders across the country to transform their classrooms, schools, and school district from places of compliance to those focused on engagement.”
“[The work of the Schlechty Center] begins with the assumption that there is a direct link between the caliber of schoolwork students are provided and the willingness of students to engage in schoolwork. When students engage in and persist with their work, they are much more likely to learn that which schools, parents, and the community deem important. However, the production of engaging experiences for students requires a commitment to continuous innovation and the constant creation of new ways of doing things—in the classroom and the principal’s office, as well as in the central office and the boardroom. This means that the schools and the districts in which schools are embedded must be organized as learning organizations rather than as bureaucracies. The reason this is so is that bureaucracies require certainty and predictability, whereas learning organizations are designed to give order, meaning, and discipline to innovation and creativity. Therefore, in a school district that functions as a learning organization, the core business is to ensure that every student, every day, is provided challenging, interesting, and satisfying work.”
What did Mr. Thompson think of MISD? He said that he was “very impressed with the commitment of our people to designing engaging work for all students.”
Mr. Thompson enjoyed his time in MISD and was very impressed with its faculty and staff, and our focus on students.
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