Marsh, Julie

English

College of William & Mary: W&M Publish

The William & Mary Educational Review Volume 2 Issue 1 Article 7 12-1-2013 Passion for Education and Leadership: Lessons from My Mentor Julie Marsh College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/wmer  Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Marsh, Julie (2013) "Passion for Education and Leadership: Lessons from My Mentor," The William & Mary Educational Review: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/wmer/vol2/iss1/7 This Articles is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in The William & Mary Educational Review by an authorized editor of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@wm.edu. 14Dr. Christopher Corallo was AssistantSuperintendent for Elementary Education andOrganizational Development for Henrico CountyPublic Schools in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Corallodied on June 11, 2013, at the age of 56. Thefollowing is an interview conducted a few monthsbefore his death:When Dr. Corallo was 13 years old, he startedwork at a large, family-owned restaurant. Hestayed until he was 22, learning leadership as heworked through the ranks. His experience at therestaurant taught him to surround himself withpeople who believed in him and pushed him to bebetter. Corallo was a music major in school, but hewanted to teach instead of perform. He looked athis principal and thought, “I can do a better jobthan that,” which pushed him to observe otherprincipals and start thinking about better ways torun a school.Corallo met his mentor, Len Gearuea, at aprofessional development conference. Gearueaencouraged Corallo to become a middle schoolprincipal and assistant superintendent. Gearuea’spurpose was to groom Corallo to be thesuperintendent; however, Corallo soon decided hedid not want to be superintendent:Every superintendent I’ve ever seen is sofar removed from the instructional piecethat […] it is a very political role. I getconcerned about getting stuck in a positionwhere there is more concern with going tothe Rotary Club meeting…and buildingthat frame for the other people to do theirwork. I like the work too much.Corallo enjoyed pulling an idea apart, asking how itworked, and then putting it together again in amore creative way to move to the next level.Corallo changed many times as a leader over theyears, but the most significant change occurredafter he made the decision not to become asuperintendent. This decision helped Coralloclarify what was most important to him. He leftthe school division and worked for the VirginiaDepartment of Education (VDOE) for three yearsbefore moving to work for Appalachian EducationLabs (AEL). His roles put him on a nationalstage to make changes within education, workwith other researchers across the country, andwork on the state superintendent level. Theseexperiences changed Corallo as a leader and ledhim to Henrico County where he becameDirector of Staff Development and, ultimately,Assistant Superintendent. Corallo’s non-traditional career trajectory afforded him abroader perspective on education.Corallo’s experiences sculpted his own visionfor Henrico County. His vision includedcreating a viable framework withinOrganizational Development and changingeducational expectations and outcomes inelementary education. The framework heinstituted focused on analyzing process, settinggoals, and creating strong strategic planning.While in the early stages of this vision, Corallowas aware the county did not always havestructure and had a lot of redundancy:We have lots of standard operatingsystems that we have built. We have avery strong strategic plan…we have goodcommunication to our stakeholdergroups, which is a big part of being aquality organization. Where we arefalling down in meeting that vision is wedon’t always have the structures in placefor easy flow of information…we have alot of redundancy that is not necessary[and] that really is not the hallmark of aquality organization.The other piece of Corallo’s vision wasimproving elementary education. Corallowanted to create the expectation that all studentsshould read by third grade, and focus on theparents’ need to understand that students needliterature-rich environments from birth.Corallo’s expectation was that students whocould read on level by the third grade would stayon level. Corallo also expressed the need tofocus on 21st century learning skills starting inprekindergarten.Corallo recognized there are many obstaclesto overcome when in a leadership position, likePassion for Education and Leadership:Lessons from My MentorJulie K. MarshThe William & Mary Educational Review15the difficulties in innovation and attempts to shiftthe culture of what a classroom should look like.Corallo noted that educators have too much ontheir plates, but educators still need to get peopleexcited about new ways to improve education:People who give only lip service to reallymaking a change, people that you havebeen unable to get them excited about thevision because they have been teaching thisway for a long time, classrooms havelooked this way for a long time, parentsexpect things to look a certain way. Tochange people’s mindsets or to changepeople’s vision of what things could be, Ithink, is very hard work and you need tokeep chipping away at it.Corallo stated the best way to overcome theseobstacles is to show the way, step-by-step, in hownew ideas can make a difference, expose teachersand parents to technology, and continue tocommunicate the vision.Corallo’s path to leadership was not easy, and heexperienced many personal sacrifices along theway. When asked what his major personal sacrificewas, he mentioned the dissolution of his marriage.Corallo explained that his wife did not expect themany changes that occurred when he went fromteacher to administrator; she thought she married ateacher. Corallo also did not regret his decision topursue an Ed.D. instead of going to law school:That was not where my passion was. Iwould be chasing money and not mypassion. So, to me, that is kind of asacrifice. I’ve done well financially, I can’tcomplain, but…I work every night: I’meither at a meeting or I am at homeworking on something for work. There’snot a whole lot of downtime with this job.But I love it.When asked for his advice for aspiring leaders,Corallo suggested following a passion. He said youmust love what you do and surround yourself withothers who do as well. Corallo also suggestedfinding a good mentor, someone to believe in yourgoals and push you to be the best. Finally, Corallosaid do not shy away from opportunities or failureseven if they take you off your original path.Corallo noted that sometimes it is the surprises inlife that lead to the most successful outcomes. “Itis okay to have failures, but learn from them anddon’t be afraid to take the next step.”About the authorJulie K. Marsh is a PhD student in the EducationalPolicy, Planning, and Leadership program, focusing onCurriculum and Educational Technology.The Wren's Nest

Passion for Education and Leadership: Lessons from My Mentor

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