The Challenge

Every educator, from classroom teacher to district administrator share the same challenge in education. A challenge that is daunting, a challenge that keeps educators up at night, a challenge that pushes educators to take risks, and a challenge that requires educators to never stop learning… Our challenge is this: We as educators need to ensure EVERY child reaches his or her greatest heights.

The challenge? We must push every child forward, ensure every child receives the very best education, and create a culture built on the belief that every child will succeed. Make no mistake, this is no easy task. Why? Simply put, because every child is different, every child needs something unique, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all program to accomplish this.

Imagine you work for an auto company as a vehicle designer. You are brilliant, and you pride yourself on the ability to get people from one location to another safely, quickly, and effectively. One day your boss comes into your office and asks you to custom design a vehicle that can get a person from one city to another. Seems simple, but then she lists a wide range of challenges that will require the vehicle to have specific additions to complete the trip safely - things like icy roads, steep angles, and rocky terrain. You smile as you are already imagining larger tires with heavy traction, four wheel drive, a high ground clearance, 300 horsepower, and the ability to turn on a dime...yet before you can finish putting the ideas together in your head your boss says - alright, that’s one. She then describes the need for another customized vehicle that must tackle all new challenges. Then another, and another, and another, and another...until in total you are required to create plans for 147 different vehicles. Oh, and you need to be able to complete this by next week. You may be brilliant, but you are only human,

Being an educator may not be like designing cars, but the challenge of customizing an education to the needs of 147 students on the secondary level is very real. Whether you teach on the elementary or secondary level, the challenge of ensuring each child receives the very best, and reaches his/her greatest heights, is not taken lightly.

Tomorrow morning we are going to welcome over 700 elementary students into our building for the first time this school-year. Together, we are going to do all we can to ensure that each and every child is successful, safe, and challenged. Why take on such a difficult challenge with open arms? Because we are committed to creating a culture where we collaboratively design a rigorous learning opportunity for every child. We believe our students deserve the best, and it's only together that this can happen.

You see, there is one major difference between the example of the auto designer and an educator - we are not alone.

So, how do you meet a challenge that can sometimes seem impossible? You tackle it as a team. So to all those gearing up for, or just beginning, this year’s challenge of ensuring the success of every child let me remind you - you are not alone, we are in this together, and you have those on your campus, and even within your #PLN, ready to help you tackle a challenge that will change the world one child at a time.