PSU Magazine Fall 2003

• l • have for us, or Lhe lack of table pay, but Lhe boLLom line is you do iL because you love kids and you wam Lo make Lhe world a beuer place for children. There is a loL of sat– isfaction in seeing a kid who is sLrug– gling grow, develop, and mature. There isn't any price tag you can put on that. " l:;lhe role of shared leadership, .. stressed in PSU's adminisLraLive program, is indispensable in creating those kinds of success sLOries. "No one principal can do it all. The job has become too complex, too demanding," says Torn Chenoweth , PSU's coordinator for the program. "Education is much more of a commu– nal leadership experience now. The only way a principal can stay sane and still get the work done is LO have shared leadership in Lhe building. That's the kind of model we promoLe in our program , working wiLh people and Lhrough people LO gel Lhings done. " lL's a model Lhat PSU graduate Linda Hall uses in her role as assisLanL princi– pal al Raymond A. Brown Middle School in Hillsboro. Hall recently Learned up with other educaLors in a workshop to prevem 13- and 14-year– old studems al Brown from dropping oul. They creaLed a program that Hall says has the poLenLial for radically changing the lives of Lhe 15 children identified as mosL al-risk at Brown. Program leaders asked Lhese stu– dents and their families to answer the questions "Whal do you want and need to learn?" and "What do you want to know more aboUL?" They also bring these sLUdents LOgeLher in a smaller class with a dedicaLed Leacher. Going inLo iLs second year, the program is still Loo young to post results, buL Hall says when iL succeeds-as she fully expects it will-Lhe crediL will go where iL