BEXLEY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT’S NOTEBOOK
By Superintendent Mike Johnson
5/30/2012
Deficit Thinking Models vs. Asset Thinking Models
Thoughts affect our attitude as well as our motivation to act. Thoughts are very powerful
and they can impact everything we do.
Negative thoughts have a negative effect on individuals as well as organizations.
Negative thinking makes us weaker and changes our relationships with one another.
Negative thoughts have an adverse effect on our physiology. They can make us moody
and depressed. They can affect our breathing rate as well as our heart rate. Negative or
deficit thinking over a prolonged period of time will eventually affect every cell in our
body.
When we think positively, “our thoughts have a positive affect on our body, our moods,
and our motivation to act. Positive thoughts make one feel balanced, relaxed, happy,
patient, even more loving.” Our whole being is renewed when we focus on the positive
and on our assets and achievements.
The Nation at Risk Report -- transformed into the No Child Left Behind Act, then to
Race to the Top – and now the newly proposed State Report Card are deficit models.
They focus on failures rather than achievements.
We would not intentionally build a team, operate a business or design an organization
based on identifying the collective deficits or use a model advocated by the above. We
would instead develop a system that focused on assets, growth and development, and
achievement. We would look for what we do well and do more of it.
Team building and individual growth are stimulated by building on assets. According to
Daniel Pink, achievement recognition motivates. It causes us to improve and it builds
morale.
Think about the most successful athletic teams, corporations, businesses or school
districts and the common characteristic is a culture of achievement and the recognition
of that achievement.
In Bexley, we intentionally identify what we each do best and build our team around
those assets. We look for best practices and replicate them.
Focusing on deficits causes isolation and exclusion, places children outside the
mainstream of success, destroys morale and perpetuates failure.
Building on assets eliminates isolation, stimulates inclusion, puts all children in the
mainstream of success, improves morale and reinforces success through achievement
recognition. Everyone rises, improves and benefits from such an environment.
As we approach the end of the school year, I want to express my appreciation to our
students, our faculty and staff, our parents, the PTO organizations, the Bexley
Education Foundation, our valued community members and the Board of Education for
everything that has been accomplished this year, ensuring that our students are able to
focus and build on their strengths and assets.
I also want to express my appreciation to our community for continuing to resist the
seductive and negative the influences of the deficit thinking models currently being
forced upon our schools and school district.
Thank you for providing opportunities that make good sense and providing high quality,
extraordinary, broad based and well-rounded experiences for our children.
Dr. Michael L. Johnson is Superintendent of Bexley City Schools.