Michael Cardona, Superintendent of Schools for San Marcos CISD in Texas, has some progressive thoughts about accountability in schools. He is part of a growing group of teachers and administrators who are speaking out against the system of accountability that has been forced upon districts and schools for decades. At the forefront of the debate is the use of standardized assessment scores as the sole measuring stick of student progress.
Michael talks about how the current standardized assessment method “overwhelmed the system,” and placed an enormous amount of stress on not only students and their parents, but on the teachers as well. He favors local control with a more holistic approach to accountability — one that considers other learning factors, not just test scores.
Michael believes that teachers and administrators, by their very nature, wish to be held accountable for what they do in the classroom, but in a meaningful way. Giving control back to communities will create a learning organization that encourages people to make mistakes. The community will accept mistakes being made if they know there is a movement away from teachers on stage to a more inclusive idea of everyone working together.
As part of the effort, Michael says, “We've made a concerted effort to rebrand ourselves and encourage our teachers to be on social media, to be on Facebook, because the mothers are on Facebook.” Mothers form groups, and they talk about what's not working inside school systems. An absence of teacher involvement in social media can, unfortunately, perpetuate negative dialogue into looking like the truth. Teacher participation has a way of balancing the narrative.
The future is now in education, and it’s leaders like Michael Cardona who are leading the way.
About Michael Cardona:
Michael A. Cardona was named Superintendent of Schools for San Marcos CISD on May 2, 2016. Prior to this position, Michael served as the Chief School Officer in the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest school system.
Prior to joining Houston ISD, Michael was a secondary principal and assistant principal in the North East Independent School District in San Antonio and an assistant principal, teacher, and administrative intern in San Antonio ISD. During this period, he earned numerous awards, including being a state semi-finalist in both 2011 and 2012 in the Secondary Principal’s Category for the H.E.B. Excellence in Education Award. In 2014, he was awarded the Paul R. Hensarling Award for Distinguished Scholar from Texas A&M University.
Michael earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University - College Station in Political Science. He went on to earn a Master of Education from Texas A&M - Kingsville in Mid-Management and is currently working on his Doctor of Education at Texas A&M University-College Station.
Follow Michael Cardona on Twitter.
Further Reading:
Los Angeles Times - Students' progress stalls on California's standardized tests
Sooke News Mirror - Technology increasingly being used to track students progress in SD62
The Atlanta Journal Constitution - Georgia to search for alternative to standardized state tests
Additional Reading:
A passion for collaborative learning and student growth
K-8 learning boosted by interactive curriculum
Assessment platforms helping transparency in schools
About Rod Berger, PsyD.
Dr. Rod Berger is President and CEO of MindRocket Media Group. Berger is a global education media personality and strategic influencer featured in The Huffington Post, Scholastic, AmericanEdTV, edCircuit, EdTechReview India and Forbes
Audiences have enjoyed education interviews with the likes of Sir Ken Robinson, Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten, Sal Khan along with leading edtech investors, award-winning educators, and state and federal education leaders. Berger’s latest project boasts a collaboration with AmericanEdTV and CBS’s Jack Ford.
Follow Dr. Rod Berger on Twitter.