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Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Can you feel it?

They looked like elementary school students everywhere. Some shuffled around with their shoelaces untied, others looked at us as if we were alien from another planet. They were, after all, just like children everywhere, however, they are different. All 868 of the students at A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, N.C., are considered leaders by their teachers, the school’s administration and the business community that supports the school. And, most important, the children consider themselves leaders, too.

Chip Cherry and Audrey Connerly from the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, Doris Christopher from Georgia College and State University and I were among more than 130 people who traveled from as far away as Australia to see this remarkable program. Oh, excuse me; the principal, Muriel Summers, told us it’s “not a program. It’s a “culture.”

The culture is based on Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:”

Ÿ Be proactive.

Ÿ Begin with the end in mind.

Ÿ Put first things first.

Ÿ Think win-win.

Ÿ Synergize.

Ÿ Sharpen your saw.

Ÿ Seek first to understand then to be understood.

I know this may all sound like a bunch of mind-numbing gobbledygook. Some might even use the term psychobabble. But before you go down that road, let me explain. A.B. Combs is a Ronald P. Simpson Distinguished School of Excellence, National Title I Distinguished School;,the National Magnet School of America, National School of Character, North Carolina Governor’s Entrepreneurial School, National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and North Carolina Honor School of Excellence — yadda, yadda, yadda.

Oh, and did I tell you: The children look just like Macon kids?

There are a few differences. The students represent 68 different countries speaking 28 languages. As the 115-member student chorus filed in, the principal explained that the school population isn’t the crème de la crème of Raleigh. A.B. Combs draws students strictly by lottery, and many parents shuffle their children an hour each way to get them there.

Let’s stop here for a moment and dispel a few ideas that might be popping up in your head, particularly if you’re an educator. Yes, the school makes AYP. Yes, the school has a large population of developmentally disabled students (it has a deaf chorus). Yes, significant portions of its population are on free and reduced lunch, and no, the school is not brimming with technology, nor is the campus brand spanking new.

Think of the best school you’ve ever seen. A.B. Combs is that school on steroids.

There are no illusions. The principal plainly said you can’t pick and choose parts of what they do, but the whole thing. “If you’re looking for something easy,” she said, “please stay for the rest of the day, but this isn’t for you.”

Ooh, ooh, ooh. Before I go further, A.B. Combs didn’t get a gift from the Wake County School District to start traveling down this path 10 years ago. It had to do it with no additional funding or manpower.

I don’t have space to describe more this week, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the key factors of this school (by the way, this has been replicated in 150 schools across the country and internationally):

Ÿ “Children’s success is measured by more than a score on a piece of paper.”

Ÿ “Vision is everything.”

Ÿ “Fall in love with teaching again.”

Over the next few weeks, I’ll tell you more about A.B. Combs, but the bottom line is pretty simple: Empowered administrators produce empowered teachers who empower students to excellence. Why the headline, “Can you feel it?” The assistant principal Michael Armstrong asked that question, shortly after we arrived. The answer was a resounding, “Yes.”

Charles E. Richardson is the Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at (478) 744-4342 or via e-mail at crichardson@macon.com.