“Education is the building block of a better world. And there’s nothing I want more than to have a hand in helping to build that world?" – how a good teacher can make a difference, and what it will take to develop and sustain the best and the brightest.

Sanda Balaban, Autonomy Zone Network Liaison, The New York City Department of Education, New York, NY, USA

“I’m always saddened when someone tells me that their job doesn’t tap their passions,” Sanda stated with a big smile when we met her in the Department of Education of New York, an old, beautiful building in the middle of Manhattan downtown. From the beginning of her career, Sanda told us that she has had the “pleasure and privilege of matching my passions to my professional pursuits.” Working to improve educational opportunities in the US from different angles and leverage points, ranging from classroom teaching to supporting teacher networks, to working for education-focused foundations and now through the New York City Department of Education, she never accepted work that didn’t align with her inner convictions and provide significant satisfaction.

Despite the challenges facing public education in low income, urban communities, Sanda praises the education reforms that have been effected in New York City over the past few years, particularly through the creation of close to 200 new small secondary schools and the inception of the Autonomy Zone, a management initiative through which school receive “radical autonomy in exchange for rigorous accountability.” Schools in the Autonomy Zone sign performance agreements through which they commit to reaching high levels of student achievement, educational equity, and financial integrity; in exchange they are given flexibility and decision-making authority about curriculum, scheduling, staffing, and budgeting. They take more ownership for the learning environments they create, and are thus able to achieve better outcomes. Although the speed and scale of New York City’s reforms have been criticized, the worst thing, in her opinion, would be to “accept the sub-par status quo that fails to prepare students for the future” and simply perpetuate the shortcomings of the school system that existed in the past.

Enjoy Sanda’s selected thoughts and statements from our discussion in the following lines. You may be able to read more about her work and passions in our book “MyImpact”.

Sanda Balaban’s quotations:
"You can't put a price tag on piece of mind. I have always had work that has animated my imagination and satisfied my soul."

"For me, college was a catalyst in consciousness building about the world we live in and the role an individual can and should play in improving it."

"When I worked for the teachers' network, I realized what a big difference a great teacher can make in the lives of their students. But we desperately need to improve the systems that develop and nurture those great teachers.”

"Unfortunately a lot of teachers are not well prepared and supported to do the toughest job in the world and are thrown into very difficult situations that demoralize them. In the cities we lose up to 50% of teachers within the first five years."

"I was deeply disappointed with my Masters of Education program, which felt woefully inadequate to take on the challenges of classroom teaching. I emerged with so many questions about creating good schools and felt like I wanted to immerse myself in an incubator of ideas so that I could be exposed to effective practices. My fellowship at the Ford Foundation provided an ideal opportunity to explore the educational landscape, learn more about working models, and analyze leverage points for promoting positive changes.”

"Our goal in the Autonomy Zone is to create an enabling ecosystem within which educators are free to focus on providing high quality teaching and learning experiences, and are accountable for achieving positive outcomes for all students. Our ambitions are audacious, but essential. Do we know all the answers? No. Are we experimenting? Yes. But what would be the point of not trying to change a system that currently fails so many students?"

"My aim is to redirect energy in constructive ways. The changes that we are realizing within new small schools in New York City area are incredible; in terms of teachers’ motivation, students’ engagement, and school culture. And the results are real, in terms of student attendance, course pass rates, and graduation numbers."

"Every person in the education system is accountable for doing the most they can each and every day."

"What’s hard is that I know I’m likely to reach the end of my lifetime and feel that I have not fully succeeded in my ultimate goal: to ensure an excellent education for all young people. But I am convinced that I can make a positive difference."

"I am inherently an optimist, which is important in public education since you have to be able to see beyond the challenges and stay focused on the profound possibilities. The fact that I am insatiably inquisitive, and have a broad base of interests is both a blessing and a burden, since I always want to know and be able to do more than is possible in a single day. The lucky thing about working in education is that it’s your duty to be a lifelong learner and model that mindset for students and teachers. You don’t need to know all the answers, but you need to commit to an ongoing course of inquiry.

"I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night if I hadn’t devoted my day to doing something that felt meaningful. What I do is enormously fulfilling despite the frustrations that, of course, we deal with all the time. Improving education just feels like the most worthwhile way to spend time and energy."

"Education is the building block of a better world. And there’s nothing I want more than to have a hand in helping to build that world."

Some background on Sanda Balaban:
Sanda Balaban grew up and attended public schools in suburban Philadelphia. After graduating from an elite liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, she moved to New York to work for IMPACT II – The Teachers Network, an organization that recognizes and rewards innovative public school teachers and engages them in professional development and education policy work, for several years, during the latter part of which she worked as a high school Humanities teacher. Seeking to strengthen her abilities as a classroom teacher, Sanda pursued a Masters degree in Teaching and Curriculum at Harvard Graduate School of Education, while teaching at a pilot high school in Boston. Concerned about the shortcomings of her teacher training, and committed to transforming teaching and learning conditions for herself and others, she returned to New York City for a Program Associateship at The Ford Foundation, where her work focused on K-12 education reform. Following her two-year tenure at Ford, she joined the newly established Goldman Sachs Foundation, which took a “high-engagement” approach to philanthropy, focusing on giving a small number of sizeable grants over a sustained period of time in order to leverage large-scale educational improvements. When the mayor of New York announced in 2002 that education would be his first priority and demonstrated commitment to significant systemic change Sanda couldn’t resist the temptation to be part of the team envisioning and implementing the changes. Working in the Office of New Schools at the New York City Department of Education, she is helping expand an innovative district management initiative called The Autonomy Zone, and is responsible for supporting a network of 12 schools in utilizing their instructional and operational autonomy to advance student achievement.

Some background on The New York City Department of Education:
The New York City Department of Education is responsible for setting the guidelines and frameworks for education in the city of New York, and serving New York City’s 1.1 million schoolchildren. Since Michael Bloomberg was elected mayor in 2002, he has made education a top priority, implementing major changes across the City in an effort to create 1,400 great schools.

The school system is now organized into 10 Regions across the city – each of which includes approximately 120 schools. Each Region contains 2, 3 or 4 Community School Districts, as well as the high schools located within their geographic boundaries. Each Region has a Learning Support Center which houses the instructional leadership team for the Region as well as a full service Parent Support Office. Six of the Learning Support Centers also house Regional Operations Centers which provide operational support to schools.

If you would like to engage with the work of Sanda Balaban or get to know more about The New York City Department of Education please visit http://www.nycenet.edu/default.aspx,
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.