All I want for Christmas

We are coming up on the season of lists, of what we want and of what we have to do. In the spirit of the season, here's my list:

What I would like to see in a Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education.

I want a Commissioner who has cried over children not their own.

I want a Commissioner who knows enough about child development to know what a four year old can, can't, should, shouldn't, and might do.

I want a Commissioner who talks to kids like people.
I want a Commissioner who listens when they talk back.

I want a Commissioner who has had to defend a public budget in public.

I want a Commissioner who has had to wrangle policy through a public process.
...and who has seen that policy is meaningless if it doesn't touch implementation.

I want a Commissioner who knows that we have a million kids in our system, and not all of them are going to be the exception.
...and that each of them is.

I want a Commissioner who knows enough education history to know when we've tried something before.
...more than once.
I want a Commissioner who has been the one with kids on the afternoon of the first snowfall.
...and when Halloween falls on a Friday.
...and the day someone in the community has died unexpectedly.

I want a Commissioner who has seen the smile of delight of a preschooler--or a high schooler--who reads a complete sentence for the first time.

I want a Commissioner who knows what they don't know.
..and who admits it.
...and who learns as a result.

I want a Commissioner who knows what data does show.
...and what it can't.

I want a Commissioner who reads state and federal law with an eye to what we can do, not what we can't.

I want a Commissioner who knows that our high schools don't run on a factory model.
...and that our school year isn't a reflection of the agricultural calendar.

I want a Commissioner who knows about different kinds of special education needs and what the best practice is.

I want a Commissioner who has learned about how we acquire language.

I want a Commissioner who knows the state constitution's Chapter V, Section II at least as well as they know M.G.L. Chapter 69.

I want a Commissioner who knows that education is something we do together for all of us and for each of them.

Remember: you can let the Board know what you think by email.