Response to Edutopia: Are Teacher Bonuses a good idea?

I have begun following Edutopia on Twitter and got tweet about this poll. I had to answer other because I didn't like either Yes,.... or No,.... it was the .... that I didn't like.

My response was

It is so difficult, possibly even impossible to measure the effect a teacher has on a student. We can measure achievement, we can measure test scores, but how do you measure the sense of self worth a student has years after they leave the classroom of a teacher who cared about them.

I could never repay Darvel Gregory. He was probably the most influential Teacher I ever had. He added so much value to my life. I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today if not for him. What did he teach me? Did he show that extra attention that boosted my self esteem so I could conquer the world. Nope! He taught me to type.

How do you recognize that???? I have a Master's Degree, I blog, I write educational materials, I correspond, and conduct my communication on a day to day basis and I train teachers all which would be nearly impossible if I couldn't type.

I don't know how best to reward Teachers, but I think programs that allow teachers to recieve compensation, recognition, and remuneration for 'value added'. If a teacher can demonstrate that what they are doing is adding value (for example conducting out of school consultations via cell phone or Instant Messaging) they should be able to recieve credit for that. If a teacher can demonstrate a marked improvement in the scores of their students on Standardized tests, show advocacy for literacy, whatever a teacher can do to document they are adding value to the learning experience beyond what is expected in the contract should be eligible for monetary bonuses.

Here's the problem. What is expected??? The expectation for teachers already is that they martyr themselves. When you see a teacher giving up their 'duty free' lunch to help a student with a math problem, or spend hours in the evenings grading papers, or developing a web site so students and parents have access to class materials, it's just expected. We need a better rubric that documents exceptional teaching and then validates it with financial rewards.

When I worked at the Murray School District I was involved in two exceptional Projects both of which were facilitated and helped along by Life Long Learning Associates. The yearly evaluation process in Murray was lengthy, but to me at least so worthwhile. I was able to truly reflect on where I stood as an educator. The last two years I did the evaluation, I actually went through each item on the checklist and documented what I had done that showed that I "communicated well with parents" or "advocated for students" The rubric was on a 5 point scale with a 3 being the expected standard and 4 and 5 being above and beyond the expected responsibilities. The scale was structured so that it would be nearly superhuman to achieve a 5 in all areas. But again, it was a scale that provided a yard stick by which to measure my own performance. A place I could refer to in order to plan my own professional development. If I could you that performance evaluation to in part determine what 'value' I had added to the school setting and then receive bonuses based on that I would have loved it.

The other part of the Evaluation was to document exactly what I had done to improve myself professionally during the school year. What had I done to grow. This part could be a portfolio of work created during the Academy of Instruction and between the exceptional Rubric and the very positive experience I had creating my portfolio I learned to be a reflective teacher, a teacher who thinks about learning. I was not nor am I now perfect at this and certainly part of the reflections have been "Boy was that dumb" but the reflective process and the documentation of how I added to the school were rewarding and I think should be rewarded.

I forgot how much I loved Edutopia

I have loved Edutopia for years, but I forget how great they are. Today on twitter @shiftparadigm made an offhand comment about the "feed the elephant" statement. It immediately reminded me of where I had read it and I had to go look it up and reread the article, and I jumped in an joined the conversation.

I was reminded of this today on Twitter. I read the original probably just a week or two after it orginally posted. This is as relevant now as it was then. I have actually made this part of my doctrine when teaching others. We need to have not only just in time education, but just in time assessment. Assessment that actually shows us what kids are able to do. We don't need complex weighing processes we need better feeding processes.

My own comment, made me realize, I have a doctrine of education, a belief system, a philosophy. My Adviser at BYU Clifford Edwards encouraged us to write out our educational philosophy and revisit it regularly. This is one of the things that blogging has done for me. I revisit educational ideas that resonate with me and visit new ones that sometimes do and somethimes don't.

What are my fundamental Articles of Educational faith? What is my Doctrine of Education? What is my philosophy, my science, my vision? What do I think education should be? Another Professor used Well I think I am going to have to think on that a little and maybe make for another post, but I know what thing, I absolutely believe in learning. Always and forever learning!

BTW if you haven't already read it. Check out: http://www.edutopia.org/dont-weigh-elephant-feed-elephant#comment-62862

Assessment again!

I've been bumping around my RSS feeds and reading some of the great blog posts out there and I stubbed my toe on two valuable posts.

First on Kelly Hines blog: Or is it about the technology? Deven Black made a very cogent comment about the inappropriateness of our current testing regime. Or maybe it's really about the ineffectiveness of the current testing regime, but it all boils down peanuts.

Another post pointed out the very real, and accurate points a 15 year old has about the troubling nature of trying to prevent kids from failing. I just can't believe that artificially inflating their grades and ego is helpful. Shouldn't they do good useful things and then they get to feel good about themselves? (Yes, I know I am quoting the old Bill Gates chain email but hey the sentiment was right)

My response to the post was:

Hey, Sorry, I am with the 15 year old on this one. This make almost no sense. Especially considering a 50% is still a failing grade. Is this move just to stroke the ego of the kids? I structured my classes and grading such that any kid who made a modest effort could pass. Legitimately without someone artificially forcing a minimum grade. Did I have kids fail. Yes, Miserably but it was due to their absolute refusal to put in any effort. We need to get away from grading kids. A term which means we are literally ‘grading’ them. Putting them into categories based on subjective value we place on their abilities. It would be so nice to actually evaluate their competencies, including their willingness and motivation to, as your 15 year old friend points out, how much they try to learn!

I just find it aggravating that we throw our efforts into testing, measuring, evaluating, and planning instead of just helping the struggling kids who want to succed find the areas they can succeed in. We spend so much time trying to motivate the unmotivated that the highly motivated are left to navigate the oceans of learning on their own.

Creating threads of understanding

Our education doesn't need to be changed, but our assessment does. There is certainly a place and quite probably quite a central place for multiple choice tests within the framework of assessment.
I admit that multiple choice questions are the simplest to deal with. They have the very friendly trait of being simple to analyze. It's easy to count up the number of correct answers and give percentage score and plot that on a chart. The problem is that it so rarely reflects all the learner has learned and rarely shows the nuances of understanding that can exist.

Might I suggest an alternative approach, Allow students to create multiple lines of evidence for learning. Consider 3 or more lines of evidence and make at least some of the lines be chosen by Learners. If quizzes or tests are part of the assessment plans or requirements, make some of the other lines of evidence different methods, and not just essays or other traditional approaches. Consider:

• videos
• multimedia presentations
• journals or notes (as an assessment tool not just as a study tool)
• drawings, artwork, or artistic representations of processes.
• animations or 3-D diagrams
• In Class presentations
  
• Collaborations

Visit www.edutopia.org specifically http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-immersion-enota-how-to for ideas related to Multiple Intelligences and Project based learning.

We don't need to change education we need to change Evaluation!

I was thinking the other day about the problems with education. Specifically Science education. And guess what I realized. There isn't a problem with education. The problems lies in assessment. My wife has take three science classes at college. The classes themselves have been great, but English, and most especially scientific English is a foreign language for her. She is a native Spanish speaker, and in your average science class there are more new terms than in a foreign language course.

Still the science wasn't the problem. I watched my wife thrill at learning Geology, Astronomy, and Pre-Historic Biology just to get to the tests and have the same message reinforced.

You aren't good at Science

Why? Because the entire measure of how well she understood and appreciated the science she was learning was based on a multiple choice question with the bulk of the questions based around the lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Knowledge. Basically, Can you memorize this and regurgitate it.

The problem isn't the Textbooks! They are actually good. The problem was not the professors who gave engaging lectures, fulfilling assignments and good materials. The problem is assessment. As long as there is only one thread the tapestry of understanding is going to be very simple. What every science class (and I would argue every class, and course) needs is multiple threads of evidence for understanding. Or in other words students can weave a tapestry demonstrating their competency, rather than a single color cloth.

Does this make things more difficult? Yes and No. Teachers and Professors can't distill everything down to just a few multiple choice questions that they offer for two days in the testing center, on the other hand their assessment can be more authentic and better match their assignments. We don't need to change Education we need To change Evaluation.

Source Nods:
http://www.education.com/reference/article/vocabulary-science-classrooms/
Flickr user: Mr. Embiggen

A real game-changer!

Dean Shareski just tweeted that he diskliked the process of assigning a numeric value to a student's work. Eliminating this archaic practice would be a real game-changer. I couldn't agree more. A large step toward that would be to divide every content area into at least two categories:

• Content Knowledge
• Skill proficiencies

Teachers know that there are students who know stuff and students can do stuff, and sometimes the capacity in the two is very different.

I personally am in favor of the Rubric Levels from the Utah CRTs. It still assigns a number, but the category names are much more in line with the expectations of both today's parents and today's students.

• Substantial Mastery
• Sufficient Mastery
• Partial Mastery
• Minimal Mastery

Parents behave as though they believe an 'A' means their student has done all that was required in class and anything less is somehow deficient. Students behave the same. The list above more accurately reflects this expectation.

The other thing I like about this is if I used this rating system for the entire class not just end of level tests and specific assignments, it would more accurately reflect what students are really capable of both in content knowledge and in skill proficiencies.

For just a flavor of this see my journal rubric be patient with any grammar or spelling errors.