Why Mission-Driven Work Matters

By: Kurt Moellering, Executive Director

For many years, I have said that coming to work every day for a place where I wholeheartedly believe in the mission is a tremendous luxury that I do not take for granted. Many of my colleagues likewise refer to themselves as “mission driven” when they talk about why they work in our school for students with learning disabilities. This has especially been on my mind over the past few months as we have been examining our mission statement to ensure it accurately reflects the school we are.

As part of this work, we have been asking our staff members, our board members, our families, and our alumni to tell us what they believe to be the essential components of our school. This has been an enlightening process with eye-opening results.

Across all constituencies, the most mentioned essential feature of our school:
Our safe-learning environment.

We’re an academic program, we offer specialized instruction for a specialized population, we are not a therapeutic school. But being safe at school is the thing that was mentioned first. Of course, like all schools,  we must provide a space with no physical risks to our students. But that word “safe” means so much more in this context.
Safe means safe to take a learning risk.
Safe to trust your teacher.
Safe to ask for help.
Safe to make a friend.
Safe to be your whole self.
Safe to be a happy kid in school.

Right behind this, came the second most frequently mentioned essential feature:
Give kids confidence in themselves.

There is tremendous weight and responsibility in this finding. Safety first, confidence second. What about providing small classes, differentiating our instruction, specializing in language-based teaching, preparing students for the future? What about reading and math? All these things were mentioned during our process. But none of these were mentioned as frequently as providing a safe learning environment and developing self confidence in our students. To me, I see these two priorities as related. How do you teach self-confidence to your students? Give them a predictable environment filled with trusted adults who show them a path forward and confidence will grow. In other words, provide a safe learning environment and your students will develop confidence.

This cannot and should not be unique to our school. What is the most important thing schools do? Provide a safe, nurturing environment and give them the belief in themselves and their future. This is not our school’s mission. This is the mission of education. We must take care of our children before we teach them. And when we do teach them, we must start with teaching them about their own dignity and capability. When I think about the importance of doing mission-driven work in education, this is why it resonates so strongly with me and my colleagues. Before we teach any skills, we address the whole student.