Believing in Ourselves foreword (middle school reform)

Believing in Ourselves

Foreword

By Angela Blackwell

There is no wizard.

You remember the story. Dorothy, injured in a tornado, falls into unconsciousness and has an elaborate dream in which she travels to the land of the Munchkins where she seeks help in finding her way back home. The Munchkins give Dorothy a pair of magic slippers and instruct her to "follow the yellow brick road" to Emerald City where she will find the Wizard who can help her get home.

Along the way, Dorothy picks up friends who also have wishes for the Wizard. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tinman longs for a heart, and the cowardly Lion wants courage. When the four find the Wizard, he tells them that if they can destroy the wicked Witch he will grant their wishes.

After the foursome destroy the Witch, they are devastated to discover that the Wizard is a fraud and cannot help them. All is not lost, though, because in meeting this challenge, the Scarecrow emerges as the strategist who develops plans of action; the Tinman demonstrates compassion in fretting and worrying about the well-being of his friends; and the Lion forgets his fears in the face of extreme danger. And Dorothy only had to wake up from her dream to get home because she had never left home at all. All had the power to realize their dreams without the magic of the Wizard.

This is a great story because it makes the timeless point that in the final analysis we have within ourselves the power to meet our toughest challenges; but first we have to believe in ourselves.
Years ago, in Oakland, this story was used to inspire the school district to pursue educational excellence against tremendous odds and in an atmosphere of deep skepticism. Oakland's school district was encouraged to work for change immediately and not sit wishing for the "star" superintendent or the newest cutting edge teaching innovation. The message was that there are no easy answers, no wizards. The resources exist in Oakland to improve. Oakland took up that challenge and began the long road toward educational excellence.

As is evident from reading these honest, inspiring, often heart-wrenching accounts of urban schools struggling to improve educational outcomes, Oakland and the other districts have not reached their goal. But they are trying, and they are learning.

If the intervention does not have a plan
for changing the system,
the system will surely change the intervention.

When the final story of school reform in the 1980s and 1990s is told, it will be a story of learning. Reformers have seen time and again that if the intervention (no matter how good) does not have a plan for changing the system, the system will surely change the intervention. Systems matter. Experience has proven repeatedly that the right kind of leader is crucial for success. Leadership matters. It is now common wisdom that schools alone cannot produce the results that we seek. Communities matter. We know also that parents and care givers are powerful forces in the lives of children. We cannot ignore them and expect to succeed. And finally we have learned that to achieve the results we seek, the students themselves must want to learn and must believe that they can. Students must be included in planning and implementing change strategies. In short, complex challenges require holistic solutions.

It is time to apply these learnings. We can build urban school systems in which all children are expected to learn and in which they do learn. But first we must believe that we can. There are no wizards.

Angela Blackwell is Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City.

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from Believing in Ourselves: Progress and Struggle in Middle School Reform. By Anne C. Lewis. Published in 1995 by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.