What to do at the Summit

Reaching for the Goal

School leadership is very much like hiking.  The excitement of planning an adventure on the trail is identical to planning a new school year.

Planning an adventure on the trail starts with dreams, books, photos, and reading blogs of adventurers before you.  Planning a new school year is filled with reading new literature, perusing educational journals, and following other leaders on Twitter (this is new.  A good adventure and a good school year is the result of good planning.

At one point of the adventure, you will reach the summit.  The views are gorgeous and the hard work that got you there seems worth it, but you are not done.  You must navigate your way down the mountain you just climbed and the decent can be challenging.

During the school year, we face a hypothetical summit, the semester.  This is the halfway point of the school year.  The best schools will take time to reflect on their practices and check progress toward their annual goals.

Once the data is reviewed, the results may indicate that you have left the path.  Educational leaders must analyze the findings and make a decision to get back on the path, stay on the path, or find a new path to the goal.

A well planned adventure doesn’t end at the summit, but in the comfort of my own home with my lovely wife, beautiful kids, and my very comfortable bed.  Stopping to reflect at the semester is great, but its just the summit.  Educational leaders must lead their schools down the mountain year after year and finally the educational adventure ends when the graduating class proudly holds their diploma in their hands.