would record credit awarded by project completion for the class failed,
but no grade that could improve the GPA.The committee discussed this draft for an entire semester. Subject area
supervisors brought the draft to their teachers at staff meetings. Despite all
the groundwork laid, this was a new concept and it took time for people
to talk it out. In the end, it was accepted because it gave the classroom
teachers control over much of the policy. The committee also added word-
age stressing the importance of classroom instruction and the need for
students to attend summer school to make up for failed classes. Guidance
counselors were charged with stressing this to students.
Ms. Rivera never did a formal study of the impact of this policy; however,
it is certain that each year scores of students graduated on time because of
its implementation. Underlying this policy was her personal belief that it
sometimes takes students time to adjust to the high school level.
It is not unusual for students to do poorly their first and even their sec-
ond years and then wake up and perform well as upperclassman—only
to find that they are stymied on the road to their diplomas by their mis-
spent youth. The same will be true when students move from elementary
to middle school and from high school to college. How a school handles
these transition years is a key to its ultimate success.
This is a bigger issue requiring more than a policy statement on grant-
ing credit by examination. This book’s companion title, Remembering
What’s Important: Priorities of School Leadership (Rowman & Little-
field), explores it in greater depth.
Let’s look more closely at how you speak with members of a committee
to get your ducks in a row. You have already seen how Ms. Rivera spoke
with members of the committee to gather their ideas on the proposal of
granting course credit for passing exams. She actually went beyond this
and spoke to many other staff members as well.
Earlier in her career, as an assistant principal, Ms. Rivera came to
know the teachers she had supervised in her social studies department.
All were professionals and all had their strengths as teachers. But there
were a handful that she came to regard as “sounding boards.” She highly
respected their opinions on pedagogical matters; knew that these opinions
would be honest and reflect the thinking of the entire department; and
112 Chapter 8