Leadership in Deaf Education: Challenge, Opportunity, Burden

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Leadership in Deaf EducationChallenge,
Opportunity, Burden

• Dr. George W. Corrick
• Emeritus Professor of Educational Leadership
• University of North Florida
• Jacksonville, Florida

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Your Job is ADMINISTRATORA school and government
word for MANAGER

• ADMINISTRATOR means you run the school, right?
  So you
• See that things get done right
• Be sure qualified teachers are in every room
• Be sure the school is safe and clean
• The budget balances
• Everybodys ready for all those big TESTS
• And on, and on, and on, and on.20, 30, 40 more
  things.

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ADMINISTRATOR This is the middle name of the
group meeting today

• CEASD
• LEADER? LEADERSHIP?- Hey, those words arent even
  in your job title!!
• I thought about suggesting you add leader to this
  groups name, like
• C E A L S D
• but. Whoops, then your last name would be LSD

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Leadership!Lets be sure were talking about the
same thing

• The great author Warren Bennis said leadership
  means
• Influencing other to set and achieve goals.
• Influence is the verb, the action word.
• It means getting people to do things without a
  gun or big stick.
• But all influence comes from some type of power.

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INFLUENCE Where do you get that Influence for
leadership from?

• Does it come from your position, your power as an
  administrator to hire and fire people?
• Well, maybe a little, but not much.
• WHERE does your INFLUENCE to LEAD come from?
• What kind of power?

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Your power is EXPERT power

• Because, its BIG and RARE and it comes from
• Experiencefrom years spent leading deaf
  education
• Good Credentialsproper education and training
• Expert Knowledge about deaf children and their
  needs
• Proven Recordof working successfully to
  accomplish things of value

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What about leading from EXPERT POWER?

• It carries some burdens and has some special
  rules such as
• Maintaining credibility
• Staying informed and up-to-date
• Treating all fairly
• Being patient

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My pointI hope is clearYou in this room
can/should lead the future of deaf education if
you play by a few rules because

• You are

The (Capital T)
The Experts (Capital E)
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LEADERSHIPCHALLENGE? OPPORTUNITY?BURDEN?

• They are all the same thing!
• Your expertise puts squarely on your shoulders
  the responsibility for success
• Not fun or flattering
• Just the Responsibility for leading deaf
  education to a better future

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You Know the Picture Better Than I Do
DEAF EDUCATION TODAY

• Massive change from deaf schools to mainstream
• Rights and services losses from ADA/IDEA
• Yet, too few outside deaf education know about,
  much less understand, the problem

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A Professors PerspectiveIve seen and know
broadly about

• The impressive, detailed National Agenda
• An early draft of a new CEASD Mission Statement
• The beginning of a new Strategic Plan
• The Coalition of States working together and some
  nationally coordinated efforts

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The Reasons for Todays Focus on Leadership are
Clear..

• The world of the right kind of education of
  deaf children is being chipped away fast.
• The battle for more rights of deaf children
  needs
• More leadership
• More advocates
• More Champions
• More Action

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YOU!You!
YOU!
YOU!
YOU!
The best qualified, most vital LEADERS in this
noble cause, with great EXPERT POWER to use, are
right here in this room
YOU!
Challenge, opportunity, burden - Surely All of
these
YOU!
YOU!
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Increasing Your Expert PowerThree Critical Steps

• Agree on a clearpublicly understandablemessage.
• Identify, nationally, and state-by-state key
  audiences who need to hear your message.
• Build an action planbased on 1 and 2 above. A
  plan that spells out what you, CEASD and your
  members are going to do about it.

• These three steps are the framework to arm and
  equip your school and program leaders back home.

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Some History and Context

• Deaf schools as Islands

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The BIG PictureHow to Make Your School a Part
Of not Apart From the Community

• Historically, proven effective starting points
• A philosophy of public service
• The philosophy must be a formal, written school
  or program policy
• The actions of the school must match the
  philosophy and policy
• There must be two-way communication with the
  public(s).

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Reality CheckWhere are you right now?

• Thats 100 us. Written to describe us.
• Well, we could improve on one or two points
• Written philosophy
• Putting the philosophy into action
• Two-way communications with the public

Nobodys perfect, but doing these well will make
off- campus and on-campus leadership easier.
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The Nitty Gritty

• Make time for more leadership influence
  off-campus
• Get comfortable with your message
• Through existing onesBuild new relationships
• Whenever possible, give/offer help before you are
  asked
• Begin close to homework out from there
• Invite more of the community to come see your
  story
• Be persistent, but patient

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Is this all the Nitty Gritty? NO

• - Do these, learn from them
• Then, write your own list
• Your list will be longer, proving youre learning
  and leading

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I hope I have Made it CLEAR
MY topic has been Leading Deaf Education
Challenge, Opportunity, Burden (With an
emphasis on the off campus role)
CEASD is headed in the right direction, but your
pace of action must increase greatly
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Increasing the impact of your leadership
efforts..

• Simplify, agree upon and more clearly focus your
  message
• Identify more precisely the vital audiences who
  must
• - HEAR and ACT on your message

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Increasing the impact of your leadership efforts..

• Create and ACTION PLAN that
• Enlists support back home and off-campus
• Take the Time to win support for your message,
  plans and action
• Now is not the time to be the Lone Ranger

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The Risk of Your Failure is

• The future of the sound education of every
  deaf and hard-of-hearing child in our nation.

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Now Its Your Turn!

• Whether you agree or disagree with my message, I
  hope you are interested in a few minutes of
  talking with me about your concerns!

Thank you for the privilege of being on the CEASD
program this morning!