Education Innovation

Open Model of Education vs. Closed Model of Education

What do you get when you combine a starfish, Napster, Kazaa, home-schools, spiders, organizations, internships, the Department of Education, and e-learning? Let's put them in the Education Innovation blender and take a look?

In my previous post, I explored the idea of what I call the Open Model of Education (OME) and the Closed Model of Education (CME).

Oddly enough, I began re-reading a book I read last summer, The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.

 

As I dove in, I was happily surprised to see right in Chapter 1, a discussion that tied in directly to my thinking on OME vs. CME.

“A centralized organization is easy to understand. Think of any major company or governmental agency . You have a clear leader who’s in charge, and there’s a specific place where decisions are made (the boardroom, the corporate headquarters, city hall). Nevins calls this organizational type coercive because the leaders call the shots."

Education today, attempts to control where students learn, what they learn, when they learn, and whom they learn from. Our educational system is the very definition of a centralized organization. The federal Department of Education tells the states what to do. State departments of education tell the counties what to do, counties tell the districts what to do, districts tell the principals, the principals tell the teachers, and the teachers tell the students. It is very structured, very systematic, very controlled, very rigid, and very closed.

“In a decentralized organization, there’s no clear leader, no hierarchy, and no headquarters.”
“Nevins calls this an open system, because everyone is entitled to make his or her own decisions. This doesn’t mean that a decentralized system is the same as anarchy. There are rules and norms, but these aren’t enforced by any one person. Rather, the power is distributed among all the people and across geographic regions.”

If you view the student as a leaders of their own learning, then they have the ability to decided for themselves the what, when, where, who, and how of their education. They must follow and meet certain expectations and norms, but they are not controlled by a centralized organization. A student is free to blend normal brick-and-mortar school, with home-school, with e-learning or virtual learning, occupational or trade schools, with other opportunities such as travel, trips to museums, internships, volunteering, etc. This blend is what I call the Open Model of Education. It closely matches the spirit of what the authors describe in the decentralized organization.

“Flexibility-shared power-ambiguity”

The time has come to stop resisting home school, occupational school, e-learning and virtual schooling, and view them as partners. Resisting is not going to work, and can create a situation in which each is working in isolation and competing against each other. Think of the recording industry fighting sites like Napster, Kazaa, or eMule.

The time has come to see all of us as sharing a role and a responsibility in the education of our students. We should be partnering with each other, not resisting or fighting against the other. If education or the student is the goal, there are multiple routes and means of reaching that education. If teaching is the goal, we will all fight for the limited resources or money, materials, time, and most importantly, the students themselves.

The time for the blended model of the Open Model of Education (OME) has arrived.

Catalytic Questions:

In what ways can we view each other as partners in the education of a student and not rivals in the teaching of a student?

What mistakes have we made in the past that we can learn from to improve education in the future?

What hunches do you have that can be applied to improving the future of education? How might things change or look like if your hunches are correct?

What “sacred cows” must be sacrificed for the betterment of our education system?

How might your persistence make a difference?

How might reversing our/your current approach or philosophy to education make an impact?

In the current era of education bashing, what is still viable and productive? In what ways could be take the good and throw out the bad?

In what ways are our typical approaches and view getting in the way of what could be possible?

What unintended consequences might come from the implementation of the OME? What unintended consequences do we already suffer from in the CME? What can do be done to prepare for or repair these consequences?

What underlying principles are at work in this discussion?

Recommended Reading: 

The Questions We Choose To Ask and Answer: The Open Model of Education

The Tutor Mentor Connection blog

The Starfish and The Spider wiki

Book Review: The Starfish and the Spider

The Starfish and the Spider:

Education for the 21st Century: A Charter

The Brain Rules School For Long Term Memory: Brain Rules Part 9

What do you get when you combine the brain, long-term memory, MTV, the Magna Carta, homework, school schedules, and grade level standards? Let's put them in the Education Innovation blender and find out.

More from Brain Rules by John Medina: Chapter 6 Long-Term Memory

We want our students to remember everything we teach them right. Of course, we do, but John explains that the process of transforming a memory into a one that can be remembered for years to come can take years to complete. This process is called System Consolidation, and it can take years to complete. So, maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself next time you ask your students a question and they can’t remember. It’s not you or them; it’s their brains’ fault.

John also explains that forgetting may actually be a good thing. Forgetting allows us to prioritize events that are essential to our survival. If it is not important, we make it less of a priority. We forget them. So, maybe you can’t blame a kid for forgetting the date the Magna Carta was signed. His or her brain may not consider that information important for survival. Knowing the names of every band on MTV’s TRL show maybe important to his or her survival. (His or her social peer group survival)

John puts forth some ideas for the school of the future that would help increase long-term memory.

The Brain Rules Schedule:
“In the school of the future, lessons are divided into 25-minute modules, cyclically repeated throughout the day. Subject A is taught for 25-minutes, constituting the first exposure. Ninety minutes later, the 25-minute content of subject A is repeated, and then a third time.”

All classes would follow such a schedule and classes would be extended into the summer to account for the necessary time required to follow such a schedule.

The Brain Rules Content Review Schedule:
“In the future school, every third or fourth day would be reserved for reviewing the facts delivered in the previous 72 to 96 hours. During these ‘review holidays,’ previous information would be presented in compressed fashion. Students would have the chance to inspect the notes they took during the initial exposures, comparing them with what the teacher was saying in the review.” 

The Brain Rules Homework Policy:
“It is quite possible that such models would eradicate the need for homework.” Why? Because homework, which serves to repeat exposure to content would not be necessary if the student is being re-exposed to the content in the school day.

The Brain Rules Grade Level Standards Changes:
“Today, students are expected to know certain things by certain grades. Curiously absent from this model is how durable that learning remains after the student completes the grade. Given that system consolidation can take years, might the ideas of grade-level expectations need amending? Perhaps learning in the long view should be thought of the same way one thinks of immune booster shots, with critical pieces of information being repeated on a yearly or semi-yearly basis.”

This is one are that John seems to me, to be off the mark in his assessment of education. In my experiences, critical ideas are re-visited through the grade levels in elementary school. Possibly junior and high schools need more re-visiting of important concepts.

Catalytic Questions:

Could you rearrange your school’s schedule to accommodate the Brain Rules school schedule idea?

Who would resist it? Who could assist you with it? Who would support it?

Do the Brain Rules ideas remind you of anything that you could draw on to adapt these ideas? Could you adapt part of these ideas?

In what ways could you modify these ideas to work for your classroom or school?

If you looked at the end result of these ideas, could you work backwards to develop a plan that would enable these goals to be reached in a manner suitable for your school?

In what ways are you already doing things that could be modified or adapted to the Brain Rules ideas?

What further information do you need to make these ideas a reality?

Based on the Brain Rules ideas, what activities are you currently doing that you should stop doing?

Are you mentally criticizing these ideas without giving them a chance to be thought through or explored?

Could one of these ideas serve as inspiration for something you are dissatisfied with?

Is there a role for technology in these ideas? If so, how might that look at your school?

Recommended Reading: 

Tips and Techniques for Memory Enhancement

Working Memory Capacity, Encoding, and Retrieval from Long-Term Memory

Learning About Swimming Takes Place Best At A Pool: Brain Rules Part 8

The Golden Moment of Learning: Brain Rules Part 7

Great Teaching and Presentation with the Brain Rules Lesson Plan: Brain Rules Part 6

Are You Paying Attention? -- Brain Rules Part 5

Theory of Mind-- Brain Rules Part 4

Billions of Inetelligences? --Brain Rules Part 3

Student and Teacher Relationships: Brain Rules Part 2

 Increase Test Scores with Exercise:Brain Rules Part 1

Professional Learning Communities on the Rocks- Part 2

 Professional Learning Communities on the rocks! Part 2

Professional Learning Communities should be put on I.C.E. Education Innovation’s definition of on the rocks actually means on I.C.E. cubes.  An I.C.E cube is an acronym for Innovation, Imagination, Creativity, Collaboration, Experimentation, and Exploration. The six traits form the cube, the I.C.E. cube.

In his book Group Genius, Keith Sawyer describes 10 conditions that must exist for group flow to emerge. Today we will look at conditions 6-10.

6. Equal Participation
Group Flow won’t happen if everyone isn’t participating.

“Group flow is more likely to occur when all participants play an equal role in the collective creation of the final performance. Group flow is blocked if anyone’s skill level is below that of the rest of the group’s members; all must have comparable skills.”

Now this presents an interesting question. Do all teachers in your grade level or department PLC’s have comparable skills?  Yes, they all have credentials (or we hope), but there could be varying levels of years of experiences, staff development training, and technology knowledge. Is this a factor?  Maybe, but maybe not.

Group Flow is also blocked when one person dominates the group, believes he or she doesn’t need the group, of looks down on the process.

Another potential block to PLC flow, is the principal sitting in the meeting. If the principal does sit in the meeting it is important to, “…participate in the same way as everyone else by listening closely and granting autonomy and authority to the group’s emergent decision process.”

7. Familiarity
PLC members need to learn to the styles of each of the members because familiarity increases productivity, decision-making effectiveness, and the ability to understand what is happening in classrooms.

“When members of a group have been together for a while, they share a common language and a common set of unspoken understandings. Psychologists call these shared understandings tacit knowledge—and because it’s unspoken, people often don’t even realize why they are able to communicate effectively.”

However, here is an interesting paradox to the point above. Tacit knowledge is a part of group flow, but we don’t want PLC’s made up of people who think so exactly alike that nothing new can come out of the meeting.

This begs the question, how long should a grade level be kept together? Obviously, departments are dependent on credential, but at the elementary level, this isn’t so. Teachers can move grade levels easily. So, how long do you keep your current grade levels together before they become too stagnant?  Principals need to balance the need for familiarity, which allows for good decision-making and creativity, with the need to avoid over familiarity and stagnation.

Another interesting fact is this, familiar groups are great for problem-solving creativity, but unfamiliar groups are better for problem-finding creativity. So PLC’s and the need to examine student work, data, and teaching benefit from familiarity, but school wide problem solving that requires new ideas and innovation might benefit by being made up of teachers and staff from various grade levels and departments.

8. Communication
“Group flow requires constant communication.” 

Principals should be talking with their groups frequently. Feedback on how the PLC is doing and fact finding on what the PLC has discovered or decided on is key.

But, group flow can happen outside of the meeting too. Spontaneous conversations allows for group flow. Not every conversation has to take place around the conference table.

9. Moving It Forward
“Yes, and…”

This is a powerful sentence stem for your PLC’s to use in their meeting. When teacher are sharing ideas, members should listen closely, accept it, and build on the idea by using, “Yes, and…” Members validate the ideas of others, while simultaneously building on the idea with other ideas. This is a great way to generate powerful plans for improving student learning.

10. The Potential for Failure
Before lifting weights or going for a run, we should all warm our muscles up. The same could be said for our minds.

“Many groups require a preliminary warm-up period to move into group flow.”

Also, some ideas to improve student learning won’t. It’s just that simple. The principal and the PLC member need to understand that creativity is often accompanied with failure. We must allow our PLC’s to come up with ideas that fail. If we don’t, the quality of ideas and instruction will suffer because they won’t feel the trust they need to innovate.

Creative Tension is the just the right environment. “Group flow happens when many tensions are in perfect balance: the tension between convention and novelty; between structure and improvisation; between the critical, analytic mind and the freewheeling, outside-the-box mind; between listening to the rest of the group and speaking out in individual voices.”

Catalytic Questions:

Is the timing right at your school in develop and inculcate these conditions in your PLC’s?

What patterns have you detected in your PLC’s that might prevent or allow for these conditions to flourish in your PLC’s?

In what ways might you loosen your control of PLC’s to give them autonomy in decision making and planning?

How might you challenge the prevailing conditions your PLC’s operate under?

In what ways might you connect what you know about group dynamics and creativity to your PLC’s?

What alternatives might you employ to create the 10 conditions of group flow?

How might these 10 conditions for group flow change the way your teachers think about PLCs?

In what ways might your view of PLC’s change if you viewed it from the perspective of a visiting teacher or visiting administrator?

In what ways might new a new idea for your PLC’s make a positive impact? What might that idea be?

Recommended Reading:

Professional Learning Communities on the Rocks- Part 1

Keith Sawyer's blog

Defining Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

All Things PLC blog

Learning About Swimming Takes Place Best At A Pool: Brain Rules Part 8

It’s all about encoding, elaborate, meaningful, and contextual encoding.

More from Chapter 5 of Brain Rules by John Medina.

“We know that information is remembered best when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual. The quality of the encoding stage—those earliest moments of learning—is one of the single greatest predictors of later learning success.”

The better quality of encoding, the more likely the student will be able to retrieve the information when he or she needs it. Think of the encoding as giving the information “tags.” The tags relate to content, timing, and environment. The better the tags, the more able to the student is to find the tagged information.

Make sure your students understand the information you are trying to drive into their heads, common sense of course. If your students don’t understand the information, rote memorization isn’t going to help. It is up to you to explain it clearly. Remember, elaborate, meaningful, and contextual.

Use lots of real world examples in your lessons. Real world examples make the learning meaningful. The more meaningful examples you can put in the lesson, the better the information will be remembered. Also, the more familiar or relevant the examples are to your students, the more meaningful it will be.

“Providing examples makes the information more elaborative, more complex, better encoded, and therefore better learned.”

First Impressions matter. In other words, how you introduce the information matters. Medina explains something he calls the timing principle.

“If you are a student, whether in business or education, the events that happen the first time you are exposed to a given information stream play a disproportionately greater role in your ability to accurately retrieve it at a latter date.”

So, how you set up your lesson and get into your lesson is very important. Starting with, “Class open your books to page…” is not exactly a great first start.

“If you are trying to get information across to someone, your ability to create a compelling introduction may be the most important single factor in the later success of your mission.”

Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, or begin your lesson. Oh, you only have 3 minutes to sink the hook into your students.

Movie directors and public speakers all know the same fact, you lose or win your audience in the first 3 minutes of the movie or presentation. Teachers, you have 3 minutes to make the perfect first impression if you want to increase the learning.

Another interesting fact about the brain is the importance of retrieval taking place under the same conditions. Medina explains that a Spanish-speaking student trying to learn English would actually do better, based on language acquisition rates, at speaking on language in one room of their home, and the other language in another room of the house. I have often heard parents explain that they allow their children to speak Spanish at home and only speak English in public. The research seems to back up this practice.

Finally, teaching and learning about the subject in the place closest in context to the subject is another powerful tool. So, if a student were to learn about engine repair, it would be best to teach and test the student in the actual shop where the engine repair will occur. Want to teach about weather, go outside. I have always found this to be true when it comes to learning swimming. LOL

Education Innovation Is A Stop On The Post2Post Virtual Book Tour

On Monday, July 14th, Education Innovation will be the first stop on the Idea Sandbox Post2Post Tour for the book Jack's Notebook  a business novel about creative problem solving by Greg Fraley.

Please make sure you come back to read Greg's interview on Monday, July 14th. 

July 2008

Jack's Notebook

by Gregg Fraley
Author Site | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Site	Date
Education Innovation by Rob Jacobs	Mon, July 14
The Naked Idea by John Lepp	Tue, July 15
Marketing Fresh Peel by Chris Wilson	Wed, July 16
InnoBlog	Thur, July 17
The Brand Chef by Andrew Clark	Fri, July 18

See you on Monday!

How To Read A Book : 21st Century Book Club

In 1972 Motimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren asked the question, “How do you read a book.”  They answered the question in their classic book, How To Read a Book.

They described 4 levels of reading..
Level 1-Elementary
Level 2- Inspectional
Level 3-Analytical
Level 4- Synoptical

Then, Seth Godin asked how to read a business book.

1. Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it. The goal of the reading, then, isn’t to persuade you to change, it’s to help you choose what to change.

2. If you’re going to invest a valuable asset (like time), go ahead and make it productive. Use a postit or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It’s simple: if three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action on what you’ve written down, you wasted your time.

3. It’s not about you, it’s about the next person. The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it... pushing those around you to get in sync and to take action--that’s the main reason it’s a book, not a video or a seminar. A book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more.

These are great, but what about reading a book together with a group of your peers. And, how about reading a book with your peers are scattered all over the country. And how about being able to share you ideas, ask question, post comments, add picture, or post a video.

This is the new way to read a book, the 21st Century version of a book club.

I am part of just such a group. I joined Scott McLeod’s 2008 CASTLE book club. We are reading Influencer and using Lefora to host the forum. We also have a wiki that the club members can utilize as well. I love the collaboration and idea sharing that is possible. Thanks to Scott and CASTLE for showing us all, “How To Read a Book.”

Recommended Reading:
Influencer blog

Dangerously Irrelevant blog

Tillabooks: Will's Book Blog

The Games People Play at Work

Bill Cawley Speaks

Group Flow- Characteristics of Creative and Innovative PLC's

I have been reading the book Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration by Keith Sawyer. Of course, Education Innovation is all about taking ideas outside of education and looking for application in education. I thought of how Keith’s ideas would benefit Professional Learning Communities, grade level teams, or subject matter departments.

Keith describes something he calls Group Flow. It is inspired by the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who now works at the Claremont University's Drucker School in California. The term “flow” is a word used to describe, “… a particular state of heightened consciousness. He discovered that extremely creative people are at their peak when they experience ‘a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment; between stimulus and response; or between past, present, and future.’”

I sat in a lot of grade level meeting and PLC’s and I can say for sure that I never saw any teachers experience heightened consciousness, but I would love to see it. However, we can hope that grade level teams would reach a point where they are focused, creative, collaborative, and effective.

Keith describes four characteristics found by Csikszentmihalyi that will help get teams into the “flow.”

“First, and most important, they’re doing something where there skills match the challenge of the task. If the challenge is to great for their skills, they become frustrated; but if the task isn’t challenging enough, they simply grow bored.”

So, if you teachers have the ability, knowledge, and training to complete what you are asking of them, then you can expect good results. However, much like our students, if they don’t have the skills or knowledge to complete the task they are going to get very frustrated with the task, with you, and not produce anything very useful. If, on the other hand, the task is so simple, do they really need to meet to do it?  It is worth having them do, or is it just paperwork?

“Second, flow occurs when the goal is clear.”

We will take a closer look at goals in the next post.

“…third, when there’s constant and immediate feedback about how close you are to achieving that goal.”

If the goal is crystal clear, they will have a better time determining this on their own. A clear goal provides obvious feedback. But, principals should spend the time to immediately review the tasks you have asked your groups to perform to give feedback if necessary.

“Fourth, flow occurs when you’re free to concentrate fully on the task.”

In other words, don’t interrupt them. Eliminate sources of silly and wasteful interruptions. Value their time if you value the results.

Here is the beauty of flow. When teachers complain that meetings don’t produce much, you can share this with them.

“ Csikszentmihalyi found that the most common place people experienced flow was in conversation with others. At work, conversation with colleagues in one of the most flow inducing activities…”

So grade level, PLC’s, and department meetings are important for the opportunities they provide for conversation with their peers.

Catalytic Questions:

How might you create conditions for your teams to experience “flow?”

In what ways might you ensure that goals are matched to the skills of your teachers?

What shape might your grade levels, PLC’s, or department meetings take to ensure that “flow” is possible?

In what ways are you ensuring that goals are clear?

How might you ensure immediate feedback?

In what ways could you prevent interruptions of meetings?

Recommended Reading:

Creativity & Innovation blog

Businessmodel Innovation_design blog

Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Final Thoughts

The Three Sings of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni

  Part 5

Principals, Directors, Managers, and Superintendents… want to set your school apart? Answer the three questions.

Anonymity: “Do I really know my people?”

Irrelevance: “Do they know who their work impacts and how?”

Immeasurement: “Do they know how to assess their own progress or success?”

If you don’t have any answers for the “big three” questions, then you need to immediately set about creating systems, policies, habits, actions, etc. that can directly address them.

Why you ask? “Employees who find fulfillment in their jobs are going to work with more enthusiasm, passion, and attention to quality than their counterparts who do not, mostly because they develop a sense of ownership and pride in what they are doing.”

The benefit is, “…managers who work to reduce the three signs in their organizations discover an unexpected side effect. Employees themselves begin to take a greater interest in their colleagues, help them find meaning and relevance in their work, and find better ways to gauge their own success, and they do all of this without specific direction from their bosses. In essence, they take some responsibility for keeping the three signs of a miserable job at bay. Ironically, this gives them yet a greater sense of meaning while creating a sustainable cultural advantage that competitors will envy but find difficult to duplicate.”

When teachers feel empowered and engaged, then change initiatives and improvement plans will succeed. A principal or district administrator should wish for just sort of an environment at his or her school. Not that schools should be in competition with each other, but others will notice the change that is taking place at your school when Anonymity, Irrelevance, and Immeasurement are overcome. What educational leader wouldn't want that? What teacher or support staff member wouldn't want to work at that school? 

Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Part 4

The Three Sings of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni

Part 4

Anonymity

“All human beings need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority.”

So ask yourself this simple question. Does my principal or superintendent know me as a person or just the person currently teaching third grade, chemistry, or principal of such and such school?  If you aren’t known by your principal or superintendent then you are just a name, and that doesn’t exactly inspire you to get up in the morning.

“How can a person really feel good about going to work when they don’t feel like anyone there know who they are? Or cares?”

All of us have people we work with at school who know us. They might even be very good friends. This is a good thing. However, the one person who makes the biggest impact on or work situation is usually the principal, or in some cases, the superintendent. The make the decisions and issue the directions. So, if they don’t know us as a person, it can make each day miserable.

“…consider whether you have appreciated it when your manager took an interest, a real one, in you and your life.”

I wonder how many people I have worked with ever knew I was president of my college fraternity, had cancer, served in the Marines, or that I played rugby. I wonder if my principals or superintendents ever knew that I want to get an executive MBA and my Ed.D. How many ever knew my hopes or dreams? How many have even ever read my blog?

So principals, directors, and superintendents, take heed…

“Mangers need to understand that the people whose lives they impact are their employees. And if they don’t know who those people are, and what their lives are all about, how can they possibly do that?”

“To manage another human being effectively requires some degree of empathy and curiosity about why that person gets out of bed in the morning, what is on their mind, and how you can contribute to them becoming a better person.”

Do you know your staff’s hopes and dreams? Do you care? Do you know your staff’s kids names or where they live? Do you know what is going on in their personal lives that could be impacting their workday?  There are so many ways in which you can take a personal interest in your staff. Does it matter to you when others take a personal interest in who you are as a person? Of course it does.

“A better way to remove any sense of anonymity or invisibility from employees’ situation at work is simply to get to know them. Take time to sit down with each of them and ask them what’s going on in their lives.”

But you better be genuine. People will hate it if you are temporarily interested or fake it. You have got to be in it for the long haul.

We all want to be recognized and validated and educators, but more importantly, we want to be known as a unique person. We want to be ourselves at work and with those whom we work.

“Because you shouldn’t have to be a different person at work. That’s part of what makes people miserable, pretending to be something or someone they’re not. And that means their boss needs to know who they are beyond the job description alone.”

We want to be known. We want to matter to those we work with and those who lead us.

Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Part 3

The Three Sings of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni

Part 3

Immeasurable

“People ought to think about measuring those things that make difference to the person or people they serve. If you exist to help students, measure something related to that. If your purpose is to help your manager, find a way to measure that.”

Principals should be in the business of finding ways to help teachers discover how they are serving the students, parents, and co-workers each day. When you can show them what to measure you will enable teachers to decide for themselves how they are doing at their jobs each day.

Your support staff will need the same ability to their jobs for themselves as well. How are your office manager, custodian, food service worker, and instructional aide measuring his or her work each day? Your role should be to help them find things related to their work to measure each day.

“The key to establishing effective measures for a job lies in identifying those areas that an employee can directly influence, and then ensuring that the specific measurements are connected to the person or people they are meant to serve.”

We have all seen a goal that has come down from the district and thought to our selves, “Hmm, what does that have to do with me?”  Telling a custodian, or teacher that one of their goals should be the fiscal solvency for the district doesn’t exactly inspire them. How could they, each day, answer the question about how much the contributed to the fiscal solvency of the district?

Raise the test scores. Raise the test scores. What if you work in food services, maintenance and operations, or the business office? How would you judge your work each day based on these measurements? How could you measure each day based on the measurement of test scores?  Seems a bit disconnected.

“Too often, an executive will try to rally employees by giving them some macro objective.” 

Each of us should find those measurables the directly relate to their job and then measure our work each day. Only then, can you feel satisfied and fulfilled at what you do.

“People want measurables so that they can get an intrinsic sense of accomplishment.”

Imagine a school or district where every employee is fulfilled and satisfied with their work and can measure for themselves how well they are doing each and every day. That school or district would have a lot of happy, fulfilled, and empowered employees who love their jobs.