Kendra Johnson - When Treating All the Kids the Same Is the Real Problem: Educational Leadership and the 21st Century Dilemma of Difference

Dr. Kendra Johnson, Esq.I recently assumed the role of chief academicofficer for Trenton Public Schools in New Jersey (July 2014). While I amalso a licensed attorney in the states of Maryland and New Jersey, Iconsider myself a career educator, having served as classroom teacher,department chairperson, assistant principal, principal, director of Title I,instructional director, chief academic and innovation officer, and adjunctcollege professor over my seventeen-year career in public education. I haveexpertise in the areas of school reform and transformation and schoolimprovement. Furthermore, I provided legal advocacy for the parents ofstudents with disabilities and those facing inequitable disciplinaryconsequences. To that end, I see myself as a visionary leader in urbaneducation because I am convinced that education is the vehicle by which manyunderserved student groups will realize social mobility. I also believe thateducation will enable those same students to claim a productive andinfluential role in making their futureand their children's futurea betterone.My personal journey growing up in a small, raciallydivided, and socioeconomically challenged midwestern town where there wereseven elementary schools, three middle schools, and one high schoolsignificantly shapes my outlook today. The idea that daily high-qualityinstruction is the pathway out of poverty only for urban school students isan idea I challenge. Instead, I contend that daily high-quality instructionis the pathway out of poverty for any rural, suburban, and/or urbanstudent. Dr. Lisa WilliamsI am the director of equity and cultural proficiencyfor the Baltimore County Public Schools. Like Kendra, I, too, am a careereducator, having served as classroom teacher, teacher mentor, Title Idirector, adjunct college professor, and educational consultant. I haveexpertise in culturally responsive instruction, creating equitable schoolsand school districts, and school transformation. Furthermore, I supportschools in implementing innovative initiatives that are designed toaccelerate the achievement of underserved students. I believe that a qualityeducational experience is the linchpin to social and economic mobility. Itdoesn't matter what vocation our students aspire to, there is no gettingaround the ongoing progress of becoming educated. I believe in and amcommitted to helping educators make this journey a meaningful one for youngpeople. I am committed because I know that when education works, teachersand principals don't see generation after generation of the same family indepressed communities. I know that when public education works, teachers andprincipals do see mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers come back todepressed communities to serve as partners in the struggle to improve lives.I was born in Baltimore and attended Baltimore City Public Schools. My ownjourney is a testament to what can happen when just one child is educated.Education continues to help me evolve into my own humanity and into thehumanity of others. It is from this personal and professional space that theideas in this book resonate for me.Dr. Kendra Johnson, Esq., and Dr. Lisa WilliamsWe began our careers together at a Title I school inBaltimore City Public Schools. It was there that we met and began to forge along-lasting commitment to doing more for marginalized students. We realizedeven then that, in many instances, diverse students relied exclusively on usas educators to create bridges to better life options by providing a qualityinstructional program every day. After some years, we both left this Title Ischool; however, our walks remained focused on equity and access to aquality instructional program. Professionally, our walks crossed again inthe early 2000s in Baltimore County Public Schools. In our respective roles,we worked jointly on several school transformation initiatives within publicschools through grant programs like Race to the Top and School Improvement,as well as on older improvement initiatives like the Comprehensive SchoolReform Demonstration Grant program. It is through these experiences that wedeveloped the experiential base undergirding this book.