The Pragmatic Leader: Eric Nadelstern

Our final guest speaker of the Master of Art's in Educational Leadership and Societal Change Distinguished Speaker’s Series at Soka University of America flew in from New York City.  Eric Nadelstern is the writer of 10 Lessons from New York City Schools: What Really Works to Improve Education and current Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership at Teachers College.  Former Deputy Chancellor of the Division of School Support and Instruction in New York, he developed a creative reform effort called the Autonomy Zone where schools are given the freedom to choose their own methodologies.  With thirty plus years of experience, Eric had several successes and mistakes to share. 

On the first day, Eric talked about his parents who were Holocaust survivors and how he had grown up in a Jewish hub of the city.  His career started out as a speech and ESL teacher during President Nixon’s administration.  He had taught eight years at the oldest high school in the country, Marshalltown.  Early in his career, he became disillusioned with the New York City Department of Education and their management of schools.  Seeking to make a difference, he opened up his own school, International High School, before leaving in 2000 to become the New York City’s Deputy Chancellor.  In hearing his story and how he talked about education reform, I got an immediate sense that Eric was a no-nonsense type of person who could talk about the business of education really well. His leadership style was pragmatic and he made decisions based on what he thought would have the most impact for student success even if it meant closing down schools or firing staff.  Throughout our discussions, I had a hard time figuring out where to place him.  Did he care about students?  Yes definitely.  But was his tactics harsh? Perhaps.  I kept trying to figure out where his values lied and kept asking questions about it.

In Eric’s second session, we were asked to design our own Out-of-the-Box School.  Eric wanted to know, Can failed schools reinvent themselves?  My group designed an outdoor wilderness school called the Center of Creative Coexistence for at-risk youth.  Since our school was so out of the box (out of your mind!), we had to think about what classrooms would look like, whether they were on the center or on the periphery, and if the school would be coed or one gender.  Eric immediately liked the direction of our school and asked about disciplinary practices as well as whether coed or one gender education really made a difference.  Over and over, Eric challenged us to think about the implementation piece of educational reform and shared stories that showed reform never goes as planned. 

Eric Nadelstern’s 10 Lessons from New York City Schools

1. Invest in leadership
2. Devolve resources, authority, and responsibility at your school
3. Make everyone responsible for student performance
4. Reward success, enact consequences
5. Create small schools
6. Reduce teacher load
7. Focus relentlessly on student learning
8. Partner with a private/non-profit sector
9. Reform the central office
10. Be Bold

Toward the end of our time with Eric, we started to discuss educational reform and the purpose it should serve.  We went into a discussion about human nature: whether humans are prone to act in their own self-interest or if they have an altruistic nature that can reign supreme?  Eric believed in the former, saying, “unless we are actively thinking about this, then we will revert back to tribalism.”  Regardless of whether I agreed, I felt that Eric's personal and professional experiences had all taught us key lessons for life and for our careers. One of my classmates ended the discussion with a quotation from the founder of Soka University of America, Daisaku Ikeda: “For what purpose should one cultivate wisdom? May you always ask yourself this question.”  Applying this question to large scale reform, I feel policymakers should always ask for what purpose should a policy serve.  If they answer, "the happiness of the learner," then we are moving in a better direction than before. 

As Eric departed and as we bid farewell to the three and half week Distinguished Speaker's Series, I reflected on what I had learned from each educational leader: the Heart-Led Leader and  former Columbine High School Principal, Frank DeAngelis; the Data-Driven Leader and National Principal of the Year, Jayne Ellspermann; the Political Leader and former Assistant Secretary of Education, Thelma Melendez; the Community Leader and former Board member of Chicago Public Schools, Carlos Azcoitia; the Professional Leader and founder of Learning Forward, Stephanie Hirsh; and finally, the Pragmatic Leader and former Deputy Chancellor of New York City Schools, Eric Nadelstern.  Each had come from a unique background and each had a different story to share, but their commitment to education was uniform.  I truly believe the course and all the speakers will forever remain etched into my educational memory.