Maria Patterson

Maria Patterson, principal of Hollinger Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, discusses the importance of high teacher expectations. Filmed in 1992 for NCREL's urban school leadership case studies.

"The teachers here, regardless of our mobility and regardless of how much school our children may have had previously and what social conditions are affecting them and so on, we expect all children to achieve here. We take a child and build upon what he brings from home, from another school, from another place, and I think that has to be there. The teachers know that I expect them to not lower the curriculum and not lower their standards because they're a minority or because they don't speak English or because they just came in from six schools this years or for whatever reason."

This Critical Issue summary was researched and written by Kent Peterson, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Date posted: 1995