"Resiliency and Health in the World's Most Noble Profession" — A Discussion with Vermont Commissioner of Education Ray McNulty

Hi, I'm Kathleen Burke, Director of ASCD's Annual Conference. Welcome to ASCD's Annual Conference Online 2002.

We are pleased to present a series of online programs that will preview topics and highlights of the 2002 Annual Conference. Joining us now is Ray McNulty, Vermont's Commissioner of Education.

Ray, what are the major issues influencing educators today?

I think that the first and most profound issue that educators are faced with is the pace of change, or the pace of improvement efforts that seem to be arriving on the schoolhouse steps; and generally, teachers' and school systems' ability to deal with those changes and those improvement efforts. It seems to be a constant pressure to produce more and to produce at very high levels. However, the one thing about high levels that is a concern, I believe, of educators is that the high level that we hear nowadays seem to focus on what I call the "TV quiz show" mentality, or the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" or the "Weakest Link" type of questions, where somebody asks a question and teachers are expected to have students that can answer them immediately, when what we know is that we need to produce students for the future who can be great problem-solvers and creative thinkers. And that's a significant challenge I believe that educators are facing in the classrooms today.

That issue, as well as what I refer to as the "leadership challenge." There's no question that those who lead system-wide educational improvement are facing enormous challenges from a lot of different constituency groups and that it is the responsibility of leadership to take those challenges and turn them into progress. That, I think, is a significant issue, along with what most states are feeling right now is a teacher shortage. So we're being asked to do more, but we don't have the supply of educators out there to do it. And a lot of times, teachers in their work environment, and that's something that I'll be talking about at the convention, their work environment is not conducive to retaining quality teachers and allowing the workplace to be a happy, productive environment.

What do you plan to share with the ASCD Annual Conference audience during your presentation?

The workshop that I'll be conducting is titled "Resiliency and Health in the World's Most Noble Profession." The focus of the workshop is that no matter what we do in life, we can't avoid its stresses and hardships. After all, no one can avoid those kinds of problems, not even the saints or sages in the world. So a psychologist, a professor of recreation, and myself have developed this session to focus on the positives in life, because we feel that what you focus on is what you increase. Kind of like in schools if they focus on increasing reading scores, they move reading scores. Researchers that we've studied agree that a certain amount of stress is necessary to maintain vitality and a zest for life; however, too much stress, or what we refer to as distress, can cause health problems, impair performance, and curtail creativity. And the key to successful life management is to find and maintain a personal balance between too much and too little stress.

We believe, and I hope that we can share with our audience, that quality life style is never an accident; it's a result of high-end tension, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and wise choice of many alternatives. Educators, and particularly many that I work with, have a need to do a lot for other people, but they forget about themselves. They feel guilty, actually, when they do things for themselves, when I really believe, and my fellow researchers believe, that it's essential for them as educators in the classroom, at whatever level, to model a great balance in life. So the power in this workshop is in giving strength to educators to handle change and recover more successfully from misfortune, and it's pretty much what all good teachers should be doing. So we'll be sharing in this session what 30 years of research on resiliency has proven. And we'll look at what those qualities in life are and how we can ensure that those are in the workplace for our educators.

In your new position as the Commissioner of Education, what do you feel is your most challenging opportunity?

My most challenging opportunity, I believe, is to strengthen the teaching profession, and I look forward to that opportunity. I believe, and I've held very closely for a very long time, that it's teacher quality that makes the biggest difference in public education. It's not testing; it's not a new reading program. If all of those things were the essential ingredient, then I think we would just provide those to all the parents and we would not have to worry about the delivery of instruction. We know that teachers make the biggest difference, and I believe what we need to do, and what I need to do as the new Commissioner of Education in Vermont, is to align our teacher preparation programs and our teacher professional development programs to the needs of the 21st century.

I'm really looking forward to having Vermont be the first state to align what we know about students' learning to the goals of the 21st century. In essence, I would love to be the state where our teachers are retained at a higher rate than any other state in the country, where our teachers are engaged more completely with their students, and not just on a testing level. I believe that we have a very strong foundation here in Vermont, and I constantly hear the term "All children can learn." I believe my real goal as commissioner is to get away from the slogan of "All children can learn" and actually make it happen.

Thank you, Ray. And thanks to our Internet audience for tuning in to one of a series of online programs previewing the ASCD's 2002 Annual Conference in San Antonio. Check back this time next week when we will post the next program, featuring Carol Tomlinson. Before you leave this site, take a few minutes to visit the ASCD Annual Conference web page for the latest conference updates. I'm Kathleen Burke.