Urban Scholar Michael Holt

Sacramento, Calif., English teacher Michael Holt stumbled into becoming an Urban Scholar. When he noticed the application online, he decided to apply. "It is easily one of the top two decisions in my life," he says today. Now, being an Urban Scholar means that Holt gets to be at HGSE. "It is hard to interrupt a career midstream to go to school. But it means more than that. I feel like someone decided I should be here, so I can ask more difficult questions than I might otherwise," he says. "It also means that I feel a strong obligation to be useful, to learn as much as possible, and carry it back to my district as a practitioner, a teacher, [and] a leader."

Why did you choose HGSE?
HGSE has a stronger commitment to urban education than the other schools I applied to, and it shows strongly in my leadership program especially. It also has a strong relationship with the public schools of Massachusetts, and I wanted to see public schools in action that had better funding and higher test scores than my native state of California. I wanted to see what was the same and what was different.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about urban schools?
The biggest misconception is that simply shutting down failing schools and replacing them will solve the problems in urban schools. It's a baby and the bathwater problem. The key is to go into the schools, find what works and amplify it. Then, find what's lacking and provide it. It's a matter of adaptive leadership, more than change for the sake of change.

What do you plan to do after HGSE?
I will return to California Middle School [in Sacramento], where I plan to open a writing center in collaboration with my fellow teachers. It will be an institution that learns, a place where students can get individual attention.