Former Batavia superintendent to discuss education at library

Batavians may have been unsure about their new school superintendent back in 1984 when she made a controversial decision in not allowing the basketball team to conduct a practice at the school on Christmas Day.

But as the years have passed, Batavians and many others in the region concerned about the educating of children have come to realize that Stephanie Pace Marshall is one of the most prominent educators and innovative thinkers in the state and throughout the country.

"Batavia is a basketball crazy town, so that decision to not allow that practice really created some feedback," said Marshall, who spent two years as superintendent and eight years as assistant superintendent in Batavia before moving on to be founding president of the Illinois Math and Science Academy in 1986.

Ruffling the feathers of basketball coaches and players aside, Marshall looks back on her years at Batavia with nothing but fondness, pointing to her role in creating the Batavia Foundation as a key highlight.

"It was one of the first foundations of its kind in the state," Marshall said. "And with the Furnas Foundation helping with money, it was a big boost to the schools."

It also was a time, Marshall felt, in which district administrators and teachers embraced a commitment to excellence based in intense training that "developed a culture of instructional excellence."

A lifetime of commitment to that type of excellence in education will be on display when Marshall presents her book "The Power to Transform: Leadership That Brings Learning and Schooling to Life" from noon to 1 p.m. p.m. Thursday at the Batavia Public Library's Books Between Bites program.

Started with Mom

Marshall, who stepped down as the IMSA president last July and now serves as president emerita, can point to her mother Anne as the person who encouraged her to pursue higher learning her entire life.

She recalls that the wallpaper in her childhood home, an apartment in the Bronx, displayed an array of colorful flowers. When her mother used a ruler to measure the flowers on the wall as a way to help Stephanie create a bassinette, it was a small measure of the power of learning she would instill in her daughter.

"My mother was my first and best teacher," Marshall said. "I remember when she told me, 'If there is to be an exception, it might as well be you.'

"She encouraged me to always find the answers to my questions, even if it meant calling the author of a book, if I was wondering about something I was reading," Marshall added.

Marshall said her father was a nuclear engineer, her mother was a teacher of children suffering from schizophrenia, and her brother was an artist.

"And we lived in New York City, so I was immersed in the art and science museums, the ballet, the opera," she added. "And my mother was the one who designed my learning experiences from the time I was a little girl."

High accolades

After earning her Ph.D. at Loyola University in Chicago, Marshall went on to earn high praise and honors from numerous national and worldwide educational associations, leading to a prestigious Lincoln Academy of Illinois honor.

"It is extraordinarily humbling to be chosen as a Lincoln laureate," Marshall said of the honor bestowed upon individuals who make outstanding contributions that impact and improve mankind.

Marshall also received an invitation from former President Bill Clinton to be part of the Clinton Initiative, a group of global leaders who commit to a specific task targeted at solving the world's most pressing problems.

"My commitment, of course, was in the field of education," Marshall said. "I got involved in the 'Free the Children' schools of Kenya."

To understand the message that Marshall is trying to deliver in her books, one must understand the people who have influenced her thinking.

She mentions a few in Margaret Mead, a world renowned anthropologist who used her studies to develop theories on human nature and the power of cultures; Dr. Ernie Boyer, a prominent educator on the Carnegie Commission; and Elliot Eisner, a Stanford educator who has worked to unleash the power of creative imagination.

Need for change

Marshall believes that the education of our children, as we know it today, must change to meet future needs.

"It's about mind-shaping and world-shaping," she said. "It's how children begin to construct meaning and it is so significant, because how minds are shaped is how the world is shaped."

Marshall believes that schools today remain similar to those of 50 years ago in how they are designed and regimented.

"But we have learned so much about the human mind, and there is an enormous disconnect between that and today's schools," the Wheaton resident said. "Schools do not honor the way we learn, and it does not reflect what we know will encourage and ignite learning."

There is a high level of complexity in today's world, Marshall said, and "we typically don't ask children to deal with complex."

That type of caution, Marshall feels, is a danger to children and ultimately a threat to a democracy. "We have to encourage children to think critically about complex problems."

Schools today are rooted in memory, transmission, compliance, uniformity, competition, individualism and fear, according to Marshall.

"We need to root our schools in meaning, engagement, inquiry, exploration, personalization, interdependence, collaboration and trust," she said.

"We need to do this to find new solutions," she added. "When people can't think deeply, clearly and wisely, then they can't participate in a democracy."

If you go

What: Stephanie Pace Marshall presents her book "The Power to Transform: Leadership That Brings Learning and Schooling to Life" at the Books Between Bites program

When: Noon to 1 p.m. Thursday

Where: Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Ave.

Info: Call director Betty Moorehead at (630) 879-4426