Dominican school principals are not assuming their role of successfully carrying out the teaching-learning process, said today educator Manuel Vidal Ramírez, who for 10 years directed 42 schools as superintendent of School District 6 in New York.
He said that the lack of supervision of the process at all levels of the educational system prevents problems such as poor performance of teachers and students, indiscipline in the school environment and the deterioration of the physical facilities of the schools from being addressed with the necessary rigor.
The Dominican expert visited The National to present his vision on the performance of state schools, a topic so crucial for the development of the country, in all aspects.
He is concerned that the various national sectors only talk about the seriousness of the problem, but that none of them propose possible improvements.
But it also questions whether all the blame for poor academic performance falls on teachers, without analyzing all the aspects of the problem, where the administrators of the process play a leading role.
“The first thing is to change the way of thinking. We must eliminate the expression of solving. In education you do not solve. In education you improve,” he said.
The role of actors
Based on his 30 years of experience as a teacher, school principal and superintendent, the role of administrators in the country’s education system “is not well defined.”
He referred to the responsibilities of school, district and regional directors, who must be attentive to how teaching is developing, in order to help teachers achieve their objectives.
“Teaching happens through interaction between students and teachers, so our first priority is to ensure that our teachers are effectively prepared to teach, and the person responsible for ensuring that happens is the school principal,” he said.
He said that in the United States and in the advanced countries of the world, the school principal is the leader of the educational community and is responsible for ensuring that the processes that guarantee the quality of education are fulfilled in all their parts.
This responsibility includes, among other things, ensuring that teaching programs are followed, that the number of students in the classroom is adequate, that there is water in the school, that the bathrooms are clean and that there are no lights missing to illuminate the surroundings of the school.
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“There is a defined role for what the director has to do and he has to be properly trained to perform his duties,” he said.
“He has to be the leader of the institution, he has to be the strategic leader, the organizational leader,” he insisted.
Whenever there is a problem, the teacher’s responsibility is to report it to the principal, who in turn reports it to the regional director.
If the problem is not resolved at these levels, it must be taken to a higher level, involving the deputy ministers and the minister, “until it reaches someone who can resolve the problem.”
Maximum supervision
Vidal Ramírez said that a study conducted by Preston University in the United States in more than 2,000 schools showed that principals and assistant principals supervised teachers by giving classes in the classroom at least 20 times a year and took notes on things that the teacher was doing wrong and what could be improved.
“That number, 20 times minimum, is a high number. At least you have to observe the teacher every month,” he said.
In the teaching process, the first word is support and the second, supervision, he said.
In the 10 years he led Bronx School 327, he was evaluated and questioned annually by his superintendent, a position similar to that of regional director in the Dominican Republic,
Vidal Ramírez was to speak to this official and his team for 20 minutes about his achievements in the position, outside of his normal responsibilities at the school.
After those 20 minutes, he was subjected to a questioning process about the reasons why, for example, a significant number of students achieved good grades in mathematics. Then came the question from the authorities about “what do you need to achieve your goals?”
An example of overcoming
Manuel Vidal Ramírez emigrated to the United States in 1991 after graduating as a mechanical engineer, Magna Cum Laude, from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. He immediately began studying English, but what really opened the doors for him to enter that society was his knowledge of mathematics. His excellent work as a teacher led him to become a school director and then superintendent.
