Choice Theory and Reality Therapy
Guest Blogger: Brian Patterson
Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory/Reality Therapy is foundational to Ombudsman’s approach to helping students. Brian Patterson, Ombudsman director in Glendale, Ariz., is certified in Reality Therapy, Choice Theory and Lead Management by the William Glasser Institute.
I tried an experiment with a few of my students. As the director of an Ombudsman Learning Center, I am often experimenting. I had a young man named Jean stand facing me. I extended my arm toward him and told him to place his hand against mine. I began to push. He braced himself and pushed back – hard! I asked him why he pushed back, and he replied, “Because you were pushing.” I tried this with other students who had not seen the experiment with Jean and the result was the same.
I have found that if I push, students will resist. Not being pushed is a greater need than even personal success. However, when students found that I was willing to walk with them, even when they were resistant to learning, they relaxed and let me lead them. I found that if I did not demand compliance, I would gain their cooperation. It was clear to them that I had faith in their ability to eventually come to the best conclusions.
As a teacher, I have experienced a personal transformation from a bossy, frustrated teacher to a caring leader, enjoying the relationships with my students. The students in this environment are happy to be at school! The teachers treat the students as valued co-workers and the students treat teachers as respected managers.
Through practicing Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, I have found that the traditional barriers to educational success are diminished or gone. Since we don’t push, they don’t resist. All of that energy is conserved for relationship-building and meaningful learning. My goal is to support, encourage and model positive, lifelong learning.
GUEST BLOGGER: Ron Tomalis
Ron Tomalis is director of Dutko Worldwide, the Washington, D.C.-based global public policy management firm. Tomalis specializes in education, and has held various senior management, policy, and operational positions in state and federal government. He served as counselor to the United States Secretary of Education, Acting Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Executive Deputy Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced an expanded effort – and increased funding – to address the severe problem of high schools with chronically low graduation rates. The federal School Improvement Grant program provides more than $3.5 billion dollars to school districts to target innovative programs that reduce dropout rates and provide credit recovery opportunities to at-risk students.
Traditionally, states and school districts had great flexibility in how to target these funds to any Title I school identified as “needing improvement” under the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA). With new regulations announced in December 2009, the U.S. DOE is requiring states and LEAs to focus the resources on the lowest-performing Title I schools in the state, and to include in their targeting high schools that have graduation rates lower than 60 percent. Under these regulations, districts will now be able to utilize their School Improvement Grants to fund programs such as Ombudsman to offer dropout prevention opportunities to their students.
The U.S. DOE has also changed the way the money is distributed to the districts. While, as in the past, all School Improvement funds will flow from the federal government to the states via formula, states must now hold a competitive grant competition among schools districts with qualifying schools and award the grants only to districts that utilize the reform strategies required in the regulations. Each eligible school will receive a multi-year grant of anywhere from $50,000 – $2 million per year. So as funding becomes available later this spring, districts should look at this expanded funding source as an opportunity to addressing it dropout problems and offer a second opportunity to its students to succeed.
