At Donna Klein Jewish Academy’s high school (DKJA), the decision-making process, along with many other procedures, seems to be non-existent. Although the school has been in existence for over two decades, with an enrollment of 650 students from kindergarten to high school, looking at its government and organization, one would think that it was in its inaugural year, with rookies running the show. DKJA prides itself on its “family” environment and caring faculty and staff. This “family,” however, has few rules and in essence runs itself. The main decision-makers at DKJA seem to be the parents. This is perplexing to many of the teachers at the school: how could the leaders of the school, professionals with advanced degrees, years of experience,
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In order to solve problems, according to Stanovich (2009), people’s brains have to choose the correct solution method for the problem. Human brains tends to choose the easier cognitive process, in order use less effort, even though the consequences may be less accurate understandings. In other words, human brains choose to take “the easy way out,” no matter what. Hagstrom (2013) also cites Stanovich’s (2009) additional explanation regarding content. Most schooling does a good job of teaching facts, but does not do well in the connecting of facts to the larger world. Stanovich (2009) explains that this metacurriculum, which involves higher order thinking, is generally missing in …show more content…
When something arises that needs to be addressed or decided upon, various groups within the school will try to decide what to do, usually simultaneously and without collaboration. These groups include teachers, department heads, guidance, and some administrators. To an outsider, this might look like it is planned, perhaps like a Shared Decision Making model (SDM), a reform that alters the usual power structure in a school. In an SDM, there are teacher-administrator groups that make more of the decisions and hold more power, rather than traditional governmental structure where the principal holds most of the power (Weiss & Cambone, 1994). However, at DKJA, there is no strategy. As a result, what often happens is complete chaos, as the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing (or has decided). Communication breaks down, and then everyone has to clean up the mess left behind, which usually consists of dealing with parent and student misunderstanding or confusion. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence at the school and has been for years. Obviously, at some point, decisions have to be made at DKJA, as it is a large organization serving hundreds of students and the greater Jewish community in the area. The main decision-maker is the head of school, a wonderfully kind and brilliant woman with a varied career, who once served as DKJA’s high school guidance counselor and high school principal. The
In order to solve problems, according to Stanovich (2009), people’s brains have to choose the correct solution method for the problem. Human brains tends to choose the easier cognitive process, in order use less effort, even though the consequences may be less accurate understandings. In other words, human brains choose to take “the easy way out,” no matter what. Hagstrom (2013) also cites Stanovich’s (2009) additional explanation regarding content. Most schooling does a good job of teaching facts, but does not do well in the connecting of facts to the larger world. Stanovich (2009) explains that this metacurriculum, which involves higher order thinking, is generally missing in …show more content…
When something arises that needs to be addressed or decided upon, various groups within the school will try to decide what to do, usually simultaneously and without collaboration. These groups include teachers, department heads, guidance, and some administrators. To an outsider, this might look like it is planned, perhaps like a Shared Decision Making model (SDM), a reform that alters the usual power structure in a school. In an SDM, there are teacher-administrator groups that make more of the decisions and hold more power, rather than traditional governmental structure where the principal holds most of the power (Weiss & Cambone, 1994). However, at DKJA, there is no strategy. As a result, what often happens is complete chaos, as the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing (or has decided). Communication breaks down, and then everyone has to clean up the mess left behind, which usually consists of dealing with parent and student misunderstanding or confusion. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence at the school and has been for years. Obviously, at some point, decisions have to be made at DKJA, as it is a large organization serving hundreds of students and the greater Jewish community in the area. The main decision-maker is the head of school, a wonderfully kind and brilliant woman with a varied career, who once served as DKJA’s high school guidance counselor and high school principal. The