"The goal of Corbett School District is to foster intellectual development, social awareness and civic responsibility among the members of our school community."
This most ambitious of goal statements has guided Corbett Schools during the improvements of the last several years. And yet it doesn't look like the goals of other organizations. There is not a single number, a single statistic, a single measurable objective in sight! According to common wisdom, it's hardly a goal at all. And yet we have, under its banner, posted higher scores, better numbers, and more impressive, measurable results than we would have dared commit to explicitly before-the-fact. I have said before that I see specific academic objectives (like the 10th grade benchmarks as stifling more than inspiring achievement. I said that the State's academic goals need to be met on the way to doing something really interesting. By the same token, I believe that Corbett owes much of its success to an unflagging commitment to an open-ended vision of the future that allows for improvisation, vigilant serendipity, and, occasionally, educational opportunism. Like a running back cutting for daylight, we don't always have a clear path defined ahead-of-time. But we keep moving forward, keep our heads up, keep our feet moving, and when we see an opportunity for kids, we take it. We don't need a goal that says we will gain 3.4 yards per carry. We know where the end zone is. (Excuse the sports metaphor. Done now.) We are relentless in our pursuit of ever greater opportunities for more and more kids. And this is a project that is too complex, too multi-faceted to be captured in a set of goals, objectives and action plans.
Finally, someone might point out that the word 'students' never shows up in our goal statement. When we say 'school community', we mean all of us.
Corbett School District will never hide behind the claim that we 'met' mediocre performance targets. We are willing for someone else to do the counting, the measuring and the calculating in any manner that they see fit. We want to create extraordinary opportunities for our kids and to set the example for them as the adults. And we believe that there will always be great opportunities available to kids who are intellectually prepared, socially aware, and committed to active participation in their various communities.
