President's Corner
Education Through Diverse Lenses
By Christopher O. Gaines/School Administrator, January 2019


WHILE ON A vacation cruise several years ago, I was visiting with a husband and wife from Britain and a cruise line employee from India. During a conversation about our travels, the husband asked why Americans travel to other countries when there is so much to see in the United States.

Although I have traveled quite a bit over the years, there is much of our great country that I have not yet seen. The U.S. boasts vast landscapes and diverse cultures that stretch “from sea to shining sea.” Travelers, both visitors and residents, learn that its citizens are similar, yet so different.

This is evident in our school districts and the communities they serve. The 13,000-plus superintendents in the U.S. guide urban, suburban, rural and frontier districts. When we gather, we talk about our strengths, our challenges and our points of pride. It doesn’t take long to appreciate that the job is similar in responsibility — it’s the context that differs.

Our districts are located in 50 independent states and thousands of communities, each complying with federal, state and local education laws, regulations, expectations and traditions in its own way. We often are so guided by our own experiences, our own reality, that we struggle to see education through someone else’s lens.

Take snow days, for example. I recall one winter when our local superintendents were trying to come to an agreement about at what temperature we would call off school. I observed on social media that superintendents in the upper Midwest were having similar discussions regarding temperature, but their dilemma centered on when to cancel out-door recess. In the end, the temperature we set to close school turned out to be the same temperature my upper Midwest colleagues set to cancel outside recess.

How can we better understand what our colleagues face and how they address similar challenges? The short answer is by engaging with them.

AASA manages several programs that bring together superintendents in the U.S. around a common topic. Participants engage with other superintendents, learning and sharing through conversations and school visits, then return to their home districts to lead with new knowledge and an expanded network of colleagues whom they can call on for sup-port and advice.

We reap similar benefits when we engage and learn with our international colleagues. AASA offers opportunities for that as well. My first experience talking with education leaders from other countries was during a summit with educators from the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Canada and Antigua. The conversation was largely around improving teacher quality through professional development and measuring it through effective evaluation systems — a topic of interest that spans international borders.

Each fall, AASA hosts an international seminar during which district leaders visit schools overseas and learn about the local culture. Recent seminars have been held in Ecuador, Scotland, Costa Rica, Austria, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. AASA also sponsors an annual summer trip to China.

In my home district, we participate in the Building Leadership for Change Through School Immersion program through the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, in partnership with St. Louis University. For several years, cohorts of principals and teacher leaders from Saudi Arabia have worked with our principals to learn about American education. The partnership also has allowed our students to connect via technology with their peers in Saudi Arabia.

Whether across town, across the country or overseas, when we engage with other educators and learn with them, we are able to see education from another perspective and are better able to lead our own districts and our students to a brighter future.


CHRIS GAINES is AASA president for 2018–19. Twitter: @paddlingsupt