Education Week - March 18, 2015 - Special Report - S9

EDUCATION WEEK MARCH 18, 2015
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The Chief Academic Officer > www.edweek.org/go/CAO
| S9
PHOTO BY
JESSICA KOURKOUNIS
FOR EDUCATION WEEK
Mr. Dickey, left, discusses a
literacy lesson with Mekhi
Hardy, 9, center, and Robert
Adside, 10, right, during a 4th
grade class at William Dick
School in North Philadelphia.
The CAO plans to teach at least
three demonstration lessons in
elementary, middle, and high
schools this year.
DONYALL D. DICKEY
Chief academic support officer, Philadelphia public schools
STUDENT ENROLLMENT: 132,000
BASE SALARY: $165,000
EDUCATION: University of Texas at Austin, bachelor of arts; Loyola University,
master's in educational leadership; George Washington University, Ph.D. in
educational leadership and policy studies
When Mr. Dickey took over as cao for the Philadelphia public schools at the end of
last school year, he did something pretty much unheard of: He led teacher professional
development himself.
At times, that meant he was standing in front of as many as 1,500 teachers, delving
into literary devices and discussions of "main idea."
"Train-the-trainer model works for some things, in some settings," he said. "I wanted
to try direct support to schools based on what I heard in the field."
ALYSSA WHITEHEAD-BUST
Chief innovation and academic officer, Denver public schools
STUDENT ENROLLMENT: 90,000
BASE SALARY: $179,000
EDUCATION: Wesleyan University, bachelor of arts; Harvard Graduate
School of Education, master's in educational administration
Ms. Whitehead-Bust breaks the mold for chief academic officers: She's
never been a traditional classroom teacher.
The term Ms. Whitehead-Bust uses for herself is "crossover leader,"
since she spent much of her early career in the charter sector. She served
as a founding principal for the Denver-based Highline Academy Charter
School and worked with many charters over a decade in Boston as a
consultant.
"I'm really grateful I have a slightly different vantage point coming
out of the charter sector," she said, "and for having seen in my experience
other ways of doing the core work of teaching and learning."
She also worked on state policy, helping implement Colorado's Senate
Bill 191, the landmark 2010 state law that dramatically alters how teachers
are evaluated. That bill ties evaluations to student achievement and
revamps the tenure-granting process.
According to Ms. Whitehead-Bust, her work as a principal offered some
of the best preparation for her job as a cao. "I think the most important
component of our work that we need to get right is reducing complexities
for our school leaders," she said. "We need to be designing around their
experiences."
In her current hybrid role, as the chief academic and innovation officer
for the Denver public schools, Ms. Whitehead-Bust oversees approval and
accountability for charter schools, in addition to working with district
schools. "The advantage is this cross-pollination idea-being able to have
one component of my work focused on innovation and charters allows me
to understand best practices," she said. "In Denver, our charter schools
outperform our noncharter schools. ... It's a big advantage to be able to
learn from what's happening in those environments."
Her policy work has also been a boon for her current role, she said. "I
have been able to think about systems and structures at scale," she said.
"High-quality implementation isn't just the responsibility of heroic leaders,
but it's built into the durable structure of an organization." l
PAGE S10 >
Ms. Whitehead-Bust visits the
Odyssey School, a K-8 charter school.
She spent much of her early career
in the charter school sector and
believes that experience helped her
take a fresh view on teaching
and learning.
PHOTO BY
NATHAN W. ARMES
FOR EDUCATION WEEK
It's the same way he approached his work as a principal in Baltimore and Howard
County, Md. He was directly involved in providing the professional development there,
too, and with a focus on content rather than pedagogy. "Rather than saying to people,
'Here are the strategies you can use,' we spent time making sure everyone understood
the content they were supposed to be teaching really well," Mr. Dickey explained. "That
gave life to the strategies."
Mr. Dickey is one of the leaders who shot up through the ranks quickly. He taught for
just three years before taking on his first assistant principalship-a promotion he fully
attributes to his students' academic gains.
"After my first year of being a teacher, my students were recognized for having the
most significant gains in the school," he said.
To continue to hone his own teaching skills, and to gain experience with the Common
Core State Standards, Mr. Dickey is aiming to teach at least three demonstration lessons
every year as the cao-one each in an elementary, middle, and high school classroom.
"There are few things you can substitute for classroom experience," he said. "And
I don't know what they are." l
http://www.edweek.org/go/CAO
Education Week - March 18, 2015 - Special Report

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