A Child’s Choice: Grade 3 PATs

My daughter is on the verge of turning 9 and is in Grade 3 this year.  She’s a very bright kid who does very well in school and her skills are strong.  She would do very well on the PAT, of that I have no doubt.  I was adamant that she would not write her PAT tests but my husband thought she should have the choice.

“Maybe she wants to write them?” he suggested.  This gave me pause.  Although I disagree with them fundamentally, taking away her right to choose is a bigger issue with me.  So I sat down and had a conversation with her.  This is how it went.

“Hey Kate, do you know about the tests at the end of the year?”

(Eye rolling) “Yes mom, I know.  We’ve been practicing for them in class.”

“So do you want to write them?”

“Don’t I have to?”

“No, mommy could give you a note so that you don’t.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes, but do you want to try them?”

She sat and thought about this for a moment, twirling her fork around on her plate and bumping her food around.  ”I think that no, I don’t want to write them.”

“Ok,” I said.  ”How come?”

“They’re boring.  It’s the same questions over and over again.  What are they for anyways?”

“Well, it’s supposed to tell daddy and I what you can do well in school and what you can’t.”

“Can’t you just ask my teacher?”

Good question Kate, good question.

I didn’t tell her that PATs are actually supposed to test to see how well curriculum is being covered because with the way that the data is being used nowadays, that isn’t how people view them.  The public sees PATs as a chance to rank schools and to judge the quality of the teacher.

Why are PAT results made public?  Parents have a right to know, is the typical answer.  But do they know what that information is really telling them?  Are they using the information in a critical thinking context?  Or is it being used to fuel negativity and criticism about school and teachers?

But it’s neither here nor there.  My husband asked me to give her the choice.  She chose.

Her answer is no.

Who Will Pack Your Parachute?

Battle River School Division I applaud your new grading system.  I have a few slight issues with how you really are still using percentages, but on the whole you are breaking new ground and I applaud you.  You’re trying to change the system and that needs to be acknowledged.

When we changed our grading system in  my middle school from percentage based reporting to skill level based reporting there was huge backlash from our parents.  They said that percentages were much more accurate and this new system was “wishy-washy”.  As a teacher I knew the real truth….the percentage system is actually the easy way out, while the skill based reporting is far more work and requires much more effort on the part of the teacher.

Concern #1:  This promotes teacher laziness.

Here’s me teaching using percentages.  Assignment, Assignment, Quiz, Quiz, Test….aaaaaaand marks plunked into a computer based reporting system that spits out an average.  Little to no effort on my part really, other than the time to physically mark it.  And I can get around that by making it mostly multiple choice so a machine can do it for me.  And so simple to justify because when a parent says….how did my kid get this mark?  I have 5 marks to show them.  And our entire conversation revolves around that – the mark.  I don’t even need to show you the assignments because when I put a mark sheet in front of you that a computer program processed for me, you won’t even question it.

The skills based system requires that I have much more knowledge of my learner because if I am called to justify the mark I have assigned I must be able to provide evidence in the form of the child’s work.  And I must be able to clearly demonstrate what your child CAN and CANNOT do.  It’s the reason my students put together portfolios of their best moments. Because then our conversation is around the skills of the child and not the mark.  Each time your child hands something in I must sit there very carefully and really look at what your child has proven himself capable of.  This isn’t so easy.  Throwing your kid’s multiple choice test through a scan tron machine takes me 10 seconds.  The funny thing is….parents will accept this as a more “truthful” assessment.

Concern #2:  Why change the system that works?  Can’t teaches stick with percentages but just add comments?

Dylan Wiliam has 5 strategies to improve student learning.  None of them involve percentage based grades.

Wiliam has shown in previous research that when students are given a grade along with feedback that students only look at the grade.  They asked students with this type of assessment two questions, “What was your grade?” (Pretty much all of the students reported back immediately and accurately.) “What did your teacher say about why you got that grade?”  (More than half the students were clueless because they hadn’t read it.)

Other researchers have shown the same findings (as evidenced in this blog post by Joe Bower.)

Concern #3:  Although not said outright like this (because it would be mean), basically the concern is….but how will I know how my child compares to others?

There’s a danger in comparing kids using percentages.  When we first switched our system we used this example to say to parents…..who is the better student?

Student A:  Unit Test Mark – 75%

Student B:  Unit Test Mark – 75%

The parents had no response.  Was this a trick question?  And so I said to them, what if I could tell you that one of these students is clearly ahead of the other?  They were confused.

So I provided slightly more information.  Both these students wrote a test on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.  There were 5 questions in each section.  Each student got 5 questions wrong.  Who has a better grasp of them material?  No one knew.  So I went deeper.

It was revealed that Student A’s mistakes were quite minimal.  A few calculation errors here and there.  The mathematical reasoning behind their skills with fractions was sound, he was making simple mistakes like multiplying 4 and 6 and accidentally writing 20 instead of 24.  But on the whole, clearly understood how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fraction.  Got 1 wrong in each section, 2 wrong in multiplying fractions.  All errors that the kid recognized immediately and had nothing to do with process.  5 minutes of corrections and it was done.

Student B got everything correct……until it came to dividing questions where he got every single question wrong.  He didn’t have a clue that the second fraction needed to be inverted BEFORE multiplying to find the answer.  This is a processing error.  And since the outcome clearly states that students need to be able to add, subtract, multiply, AND divide fractions…..?  This student would not receive a passing grade in my class.  He clearly cannot do all four and we need some extra work here.

Same mark…..but 2 completely different students with 2 completely different grasps on the concepts.  The problem is that when a kid goes home and mom says, what did you get on your test?  Kid responds with 75% and mom says, “That’s great!  Go get washed up for supper.”  Conversation over.  Kids usually don’t flip open the test to see why they got the 75%.  The scary thing is that many of their teachers don’t either……

In the new grading system when mom says, “What did you teacher say about your test?”  My student would respond with, “I need to practice dividing fractions.  I did everything else right but I got all those questions wrong.”

See how the conversation changes from what the mark is to what the skills are?

THE ANALOGY

Everyone is always so concerned about how we can possibly know who is on top, who is the best, and who is clearly on the bottom.  The problem is that percentage grades don’t give us the whole story, especially when we bring averaging into the mix.

I heard this story once and it really hit home with me.

Two students take a course in parachute packing.  At the end of each week they are asked to pack 5 parachutes and then they are tested for effectiveness.  If the parachute was packed in such a way that it would fail to open when the string is pulled, the student is give 0.  If it would open, the student is given a 1.  Marks are reported like this…

	WK1	WK 2	WK 3	WK 4	WK 5	Course Mark
Student A	4	4	4	4	4	80%
Student B	1	3	4	5	5	72%

Student A has learned nothing in 5 weeks.  His accuracy is the same at the end as it was in the beginning.  1 out of every 5 parachutes he packs still won’t open.  Student B finished with a lower mark and started off really poorly.  But consistently packed every parachute accurately in the last two weeks of the course.

But if all you were given was their grade in the course to choose by……who would you have chosen?

Student A has the better mark?  I’ll pick him.  (Good luck with that, hope the odds are in your favour!)

Neither!  I’m not taking anyone unless they got 100%.  (Fair enough, you’re missing out on the experience then.)

And this would be my answer….I’ll take Student B.  He’s proven he can learn and improve and now has a 100% accuracy rating.  Let’s go.

Obviously analogies are meant to prove a point and this wouldn’t really happen but think a little deeper about what the question is asking of you.  It asks…..which student is truly the stronger of the two?  The one with the better mark?  Or the one who has proven he can learn and improve even though he started off as a failure?

As a teacher, my dream class is the one filled with Student Bs.

Anyways…..just something to think about…….

All I know is this.  When I began skill based reporting I found that as a teacher I knew my students far better then I ever did when reporting percentages.  My time spent assessing increased under this system as did my time spent preparing quality learning assessments.

Who’s being lazy?  It sure as heck isn’t me.

Confession:  It’s those days when I’m tired and exhausted that part of me wishes we had a percentage based system.  Because that was SO much easier than what I’m doing now.  And I rarely had parents question my marks.  Then I remember that the way I assess now is far more valuable and I suck myself back up to return to what I know is good teaching.

Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy

I saw this quote today and I’ve seen it several times before today but I also got this email from a student today:

“Hey Mrs. O, sorry I missed the rewrite chance for my math.  I don’t think I’ll do it.  I’m not as smart as other people in the class anyways.  But thanks for the extra math help this week.”

Oh…..rip my heart out……

I’m a runner.  I’m not a fast runner but I’m a runner.  I even have a running coach who plans my programs, motivates me, and is always there for even my non-running needs.  And last year when I ran in the same race as her we crossed the finish line only a minute apart.

Except she had just finished running 10 km and I had just finished running 5.

If I was to compare myself to her and let that be the marker I judge myself by I would have quit running months ago.  If I compared myself to my friends I would have quit running months ago.  If I compared myself to the other racers in the group I would have quit running months ago.

I only compare myself to myself.  And I couldn’t be happier.  Today I ran for 45 minutes solid without a single walking break.  My treadmill claims I ran 4.12 miles.  Ten months ago I had just started interval training and was running for one minute and walking for four.  I thought I was going to die.  My whole goal at the time was to be able to hit 4/1 intervals without keeling over in a heart attack.  Look at me go now.  4/1 has become 45/1.

It took me 43 minutes to complete my first 5km race.  By the mid fall I was running it at 38 minutes.  To strip 5 minutes off a 5km run time in a mere three months had my coach over the moon happy for me.  I was happy for me too.  I could have focused on the fact that I was 86/95 runners in my age category.  I could have focused on the fact that I was 349/432 runners.  But I didn’t because you know what?  It just doesn’t matter.  Compared to how I was running before, I was kicking butt.  And I celebrated!

Comparison is the thief of joy and we have many joyless students in our schools.  They look at all the others and think, “I’ll never get the top mark so why bother trying?”

But every once in awhile I see that kid.  The kid who gets his assignment back and smiles to himself quietly because he passed.  It might have been “just a pass” to an outsider but three months ago even that seemed like it was out of reach to him.  And he doesn’t care that it isn’t the top mark, he only cares that his hard work has paid off.  And I will cheer for him.  And I will celebrate.

If I could get one thing across to my students it would be this….the only person you are ever competing against is yourself.  Can you be better than you were the last time?  It’s the only question that ever really counts.

The Sticker Generation

I had an interesting chat with a group of Grade 7s in my building this week.  They were giving their French teacher some grief and so I decided not to intervene really, but rather to have a conversation with them about what was going on.

Through this conversation I discovered that the kids had some definite ideas on what would make French class better.  It caused me no end of concern when they said things about stickers, suckers, and earning points so they could watch movies.

“Really?” I said to them.  ”So what you’re telling me is that you’re only going to do what’s asked of you if you get something out of it?”

“Pretty much!” is what they told me right back.

If you know me, and many of you do, you can probably imagine my reaction.  I smiled at first, nodded because I had heard their words….and then promptly told them they better change that attitude because when they come to me in Grade 8 there are no stickers or suckers anymore.  In fact, I outlined for them exactly how I teach.   They asked me a few questions that I answered very bluntly.

1.  How many textbook questions will you give us?  So I told them my answer, practically none.  And they cheered and cheered, until I told them why.  The text book is too easy.  It gives you the impression that you only need math to answer some questions someone in a room thought of and put into a book.  I’m going to make you show me how math functions in the real world.  You’re going to be wishing you had a textbook when you see what I will expect from you.

2.  Do you assign homework?  Nope, I said.  Again…more cheers!  I assign deadlines.  And I expect that you will meet them to some degree of consistency.  I will expect you to manage your own workload.  If I give you a practise assignment and you choose not to do it, I will assume that means you obviously know what you are doing.  When will we both find out if you do or don’t?  Well that’s the interesting part isn’t it.  Because I will find out.  But will you be proactive and try to master your own learning?  Or will you be reactive when you get the bad grade and now need to scramble to make up for what you should have learned the first time around?

My expectations are high and I will expect you to learn what is being taught not because I’m going to give you a sticker, but because at the end of the day it you will acknowledge that there is some value in learning for the sake of learning.

“What is the NATURAL reward of learning?” I asked them.

“We get smarter.”

“We know more stuff.”

“It helps us get jobs or into university.”

“Because it makes us better us people…..”

Wow, imagine that came from a kid in Grade 7, a 12 year old???  It makes us better people.

So we wound this back to our conversation about French class.  One kid said he didn’t understand why he had to take French if he hates it.  I told him, to truly know that you hate something, you have to understand it first.  And the only way to truly understand something is to immerse yourself in it, give it a chance (with an open mind) and let it run its course for awhile.

But here’s the kicker…..

You can’t be in it for the stickers.  Or you’re going to wind up hating everything.  Because eventually, the stickers stop coming.

This topic is of particular interest to me and I have been motivated to speak about it (run a discussion group about it) at a fabulous conference in Calgary, Alberta in May of 2013.  It’s called Connect Ed Canada.  It is probably the best conference I’ve been to in a long time.  The quality of the educators you will meet is high and the discussion you will engage in will be rich and meaningful.  I encourage you to come join us!  You can also find the hashtag #connectedca on Twitter.

Colleagues or Accomplices?

When I attended my local Palliser District Teacher’s Convention on February 21, I had the chance to listen to keynote speaker Dr. Peter Jensen.  He is mostly involved in coaching and psychology and has spoken about his times with the Canadian World Junior Hockey team and mentioned other athletes such as Christine Nesbitt.  He spoke on motivation and how to achieve it.

One of the things he spoke about was the difference between having friends vs having accomplices.  The example he gave was this:

If you are on a diet and find yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by a bunch of pizza, a friend will support you in not eating the pizza and will help you find other food.  An accomplice will say things like, “Oh come on.  It’s only one or two slices.  You’ve been so good this week, a little cheating won’t hurt……”  An accomplice actually hurts you or sabotages you (although they don’t necessarily mean to and may not even realize they are doing so).

It made me think about my staff.  As a teacher are you surrounded by colleagues or accomplices?

We’ve all been there.  There’s a difficulty facing our profession/staff/school/students and it’s tempting to sink into the pits of despair and being to commiserate.

Colleagues will challenge your thinking, try to come up with potential solutions, and investigate an issue to its fullest extent before decisions are made.  They might encourage you in your own thinking and will really sit and listen to you as you speak about the issue.

Accomplices will commiserate with you.  Nod their head while others list off the thousand reasons why things won’t work instead of putting efforts into figuring out how they might be possible.  Will shoot down potential ideas.  Won’t really be interested in listening to anyone else unless they have the same opinion.  Will listen to others only so they can poke holes and point out the flaws and faults they see while ignoring the possibilities.

So I ask you…..are you a colleague?  Or an accomplice?

If You Want Something Done….

The phrase is actually “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”  I think in the face of provincial teacher negotiations it might actually be, “If you want something done the way you want it done, do it yourself.”

I could be off base on this, but the more I think about it the more I feel like Jeff Johnson doesn’t actually trust local school boards.  Not that I pretend to understand the facets of a very complex political system but here’s what I know….

1)  Jeff Johnson issued a statement a while ago (after Tripartite failed in November) saying that any agreements reached at the local level had to be presented to him ten days before ratification for “review”.  While he didn’t say this, it sort of felt as though he were implying he might exercise some sort of veto right if he felt he had to.

2)  He presented a contract directly to the ATA with regards to the province’s thoughts on salary and working conditions.

3)  When the contract was turned down with the ATA saying they would like to return to local negotiations (a system that has worked for many years in this province), Johnson started talking about possibly legislating contracts.

Like I said….maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.  But as an every day person watching this drama unfold it kind of comes across to me like the Minister is completely unwilling to give up control of this situation and put it back into the hands of the people who have been negotiating in this style for nearly a century.

The Minister wants a deal and he wants it now.  The public is under the impression this is a game about teachers wanting more money and guarantees they can have an even cushier working load then they already have (given that public opinion is I work about 6 hours a day with 10 weeks of holidays a year).

And the Minister has done a good job of making sure public opinion sways against the ATA.  He presented an offer with a tight timeline full of open ended loops holes that, while locking down teachers for 4 years, would give the government all kinds of flexibility to change the game up whenever they felt like it.

I can’t speak for other teachers but I do know this.  I’m working harder now than I ever have before.  My husband and I are both teachers and we live comfortably.  For us it’s not about the salary as much as it is the conditions within which we are working.

I used to have classes of 21 – 24 kids.  My class this year started off at 32.  7 of them are on IPPs, 1 kid had a severe learning and behavior issue.  And I’m expected to write those IPPs and look after the special needs of those kids.  When I first started we had an IPP coordinator who specialized in that and, while she kept me well informed and supplied me with help and strategies, she was much more qualified than I am.  When she left our school she was not replaced.  That was about 7 years ago.  Her job now fell to the rest of us who have NO background in special education.

I used to have supervision twice a week when I first started (about 35 minutes per week).  In my school this year, some middle school teachers are now at 145 minutes per week.  That’s  2 1/2 hours of their week supervising student during recess and lunch breaks.  Time that used to be spent photocopying, getting lessons ready, or just simply getting a break from their students.  One of my colleagues has a double supervision one day a week along with monitoring his class while they eat lunch.  He is with kids every single minute of that day.  No opportunity to have even 5 minutes to himself during the day.

We used to get 3 hours of prep time per week in one semester and 4 hours of prep in another semester.  That has been reduced to 2 hours each semester this year.  Just to summarize that, when I first started teaching I had  roughly 140 hours of prep time in a year.  Now it’s 80.  A loss of 60 hours of time that I used to prep lessons, engage kids one on one for extra help, do the menial tasks like photocopying, organizing field trip money, filling out my class pizza order, or other incredible meaningful things like collaboration with colleagues or doing quality marking.

I still do all of these things but now I do them on my own time, mostly at the expense of my kids and family.

My classes are getting bigger, my prep time is getting smaller, and in this ever changing world the pressure on me to keep up with PD and provide a quality learning environment is enough to make me crack some days.

Is it any wonder that after twelve years of teaching I’m just about ready to call it quits?  And I love my job.  I really do.  But I don’t know how much longer I can put everyone elses’ kids ahead of my own.  I’m burned out, stressed out, and facing a Minister who says “Do more with less.”  Last year I went down to part time so I could spend more time with my daughter (who will be in school next year so my part time comes to an end).  The thought of going back full time next year actually makes me sick some days.

This is just me, but I was good with a 2 year salary freeze.  It’s the working conditions that someone needs to do something about.  And saying you’re going to “study” it isn’t helpful.  Studies have been done!  The Minister just doesn’t trust them and wants to do his own.  Or maybe he just wants to make sure that they say what he wants them to say.  Will anyone really be surprised if he “studies” this for three years and it comes back to say that working conditions are no big deal?  I have a degree in psychology.  I know that you can make a study say whatever you really want it to say as long as you set it up the right way.

If you’ve ever read the book, “The Giver” by Lois Lowry there’s a section where a question is raised about a rule and the joke is that the committee will “study it”.  It makes everyone laugh because in the book the committee will “study it” forever but nothing ever actually gets done.

So you go ahead and study my working conditions all you want Mr. Minister.  I’ll just be over here with the classifieds.  Let me know when you’re done.

I’d like to end by saying that I think there is no more important job out there than teaching.  We hold the future leaders of tomorrow within our classrooms today.  And there are so many amazing things about our education system here in Alberta.  Other than my personal beef with things like standardized testing, etc. I really feel like I’m teaching in one of the greatest educational systems in the world.  Education is the foundation for a province’s economic well being.

Help us Mr. Johnson.  I need an advocate in government.  Not an adversary.  You co-chaired Inspiring Education, you’re a parent yourself.  I know you think education matters in this province.  So be the hero we need you to be.  Fight for us!

And there might be some out there saying, “But he is!”

And my response is, “He’s doing a really good job of hiding that then.”

Merit pay, watch dogging local negotiations, legislated contracts….these aren’t the words of an advocate.  They are the messages of someone who has control issues and wants everything done his way.

If you want something done……

He Likes Me! He Really Likes Me!

My husband got an email from the Minister of Education that he forwarded to me.  Apparently I’m not on “the list” but there is opportunity to add myself simply by emailing him.

Pass.

But here’s what the email said:

Good afternoon! I’m personally reaching out to as many teachers as possible to let you know how much the Premier and I appreciate all you do. As I travel the province and meet with teachers, I am encouraged to hear how many of you are implementing the vision of Inspiring Education. Thank you.Recently, I met with a group of teachers in a staff room in Lac La Biche. We had an excellent conversation and I promised to look into some issues they raised with me. That conversation made me realize that we need to have a more open and transparent way to communicate. I also know that in order for you to be innovative and creative, you need a less prescriptive curriculum; you need time and space; and you want to ensure kids have equity in terms of access to opportunities and resources. These things will be a priority for me in the coming year because at the end of the day the kids have to come first. I know we have more work to do. We want to move even more toward the Inspiring Education vision and develop changes in curriculum and assessment. We will also have to address the province’s fiscal challenges and the ATA contract negotiations.  I know many of you would also like to talk about the changing role of the teacher in the 21st century – something that came up often during our two years of Inspiring Education consultations. All of this means we need to have open communication and ensure you have access to accurate information. Especially now. It’s my goal to make sure that as we move through this difficult budget time we are investing our limited dollars in the programs that are critical to ensuring the success of our kids, that we are protecting class sizes and inclusion funding as well as jobs for teachers to the greatest extent possible. You have told me that’s what is important to you and I am listening. You will be hearing from me on a regular basis. But, please contact me anytime at education.minister@gov.ab.ca. Please share this information with your colleagues. I know my current list may not be comprehensive and I want to reach as many teachers as possible. So, if you received this from a colleague, it means you aren’t on our list. Please email me or go to our existing engagement tools on the web at Engage. A new Teachers’ link will help us connect with even more of you. Eventually, this is where we will post ideas for us to share. I hope you will participate in this dialogue with me. Talk to you soon. Jeff  Jeff Johnson Minister of Education MLA, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater

“You have told me that’s what is important to you and I am listening.”

Well Mr. Johnson…..I listen to my kids tell me every night that they want hotdogs and Kraft Dinner for supper.  That doesn’t mean I do anything about it.  And so far, all I’ve seen from you is talk.  Talk about Merit Pay. Talk about legislating contracts.  Do you have a split personality we don’t know about?  Because in your emails and talk directly with teachers you seem to have one face and when it comes to the public, school boards, and media you seem to have another?  It’s very confusing.

So now you’re sending propaganda emails directly to teachers through email instead of news outlets. Congratulations on figuring out how the send button works.

The problem is that you seem to know how to talk the talk but not how to walk the walk.  And as many people have said in the past….

Talk is cheap.

Promoting Healthy Conflict

I think we’ve all been there in that staff meeting where an idea was raised and though you disagree, everyone else seems to be in favour of it so you stay silent.  Or worse….you leave the meeting and find out you weren’t the only one who disagreed but none of you spoke up.  If only someone had just said something……

My school team has been working with the book “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” written by Patrick Lencioni.  He’s talking about a corporate team in the book but the principles are easily applied to any school team as well.

One of the quotes in the book reads, “Contrary to the notion that teams waste time and energy arguing, those that avoid conflict actually doom themselves to revisiting issues again and again without resolution.”

Lencioni argues in his book that it’s only teams that can hear all the voices in the room (those in agreement, those in apathy, and those in disagreement) that can really make a decision about what’s best for them.

Too many times I’ve seen staff meetings where decisions are made and then find people grumbling about it in back corners.  It builds friction on your staff, it begins to break down your team, and ultimately you have a bunch of unhappy people working at your school.  Many of us operate under the notion that if we say something negative we’re going to be seen as the person causing trouble or we risk opening ourselves to criticism.   What is the result of this?  Your school may have come a to a decision about something but it won’t be supported by everyone on board.

I think back to a time when it was decided as a staff that we would participate in silent reading time.  Everyone would read at the beginning of the school day.  It was discussed briefly at a staff meeting but the principal made it clear that this was important to him and that it WOULD be taking place.  And so the decision was made.

What happened?

It went great…..for about two weeks.  Then some teachers began to let kids do homework during reading time.  Other teachers simply said “Forget it, I’m starting my class anyways.”  When kids started pushing back and saying they didn’t want to read, some teachers shrugged and said, “Fine, whatever,” and gave in….because it wasn’t important to them.  The result?  The whole thing fell apart in about four months.  We had a sign on the door of our school that said we were a “Reading School.”  We had to have it removed.

When the issue was raised again this year I was very leery.  Our focus is on literacy and our admin asked us to revisit the idea of returning to the time when we were a “reading school.”  I voiced my disagreement.  I did this because of three reasons.

1.  TRUST: After working with the book, our school has established a very good sense of trust.  We EXPECT that staff members will raise their voices up if they disagree about what is going on.  If someone is muttering under their breathe we hold them accountable to speak up and give voice to their opposition.  Lencioni says the first dysfunction of a team is, “an absence of trust among the team members.”

2.  ABSENCE OF A FEAR OF CONFLICT:  Since I felt I trusted my staff to listen to my voice without judging me, I knew I could avoid the second dysfunction, “Fear of Conflict.”  If you have people who are ‘yes men’ then it feels as though you have harmony on your team and that you make decisions quickly, but take a long hard look at how long it takes before they fall apart because someone is being sneaky and underhanded about how they will oppose you and tear it to pieces.  I didn’t like the idea of being a “reading school” again and I knew I needed to make my concerns clear.

3.  PRIOR EXPERIENCE:  I had lived through this once before.  It’s not that I didn’t like the idea of being a reading school, it’s that I didn’t like what happened on staff before.  The conversations behind people’s backs, the teachers who passively defied the idea by simply refusing to do it, the hurt feelings on staff for those of us who believed in the program and watched it burn into ashes.  I voiced my concerns and my memories from the first time.  There was a lot of head nodding around the room from those who lived it with me and those new to our staff.

The result?  Our admin helped us to define the action plan together as a team.  We all agreed that though some on staff might not agree with it wholeheartedly opportunities to have your voice heard were present, ALL voices were considered, and then in the end a decision was made about what was best for our school.  As a staff we have committed to always doing what is best for our team and ultimately that means what is best for our students.

We are now a reading a school again.  Here we are in mid-January and the program is running strong.  It takes places for the first 20 minutes of the day and every kid from K-12 participates as well as the staff.  No hiccups, no glitches, everyone has buy in.

Why?  Because it was a team decision.  Did everyone like it?  No, but since we all agree to support each other that means that we give that support even if we don’t agree.  The chance to raise a voice is often all anyone needs.

Conflict on staff is a good thing.  It opens the floor so that everyone can feel as though they have been heard and they don’t have to hide.  If the conflict is deep, respectful, and meaningful then the decision your produce will have much better buy in and support from the team.  This results in a strong team that makes strong decisions.

If you are an administrator or are considering a role within administration I highly recommend you take a look at “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.”  Well worth the read.

Merit Pay and 8 Year Olds

Merit pay was a big conversation between my husband and myself last night.  What would happen to education, how it would affect us personally, what we might do if merit pay is instituted…..

But later that night I was driving my daughter to Brownies and we had a chat about her “allowance”.  She’s trying to save up for a Lego set and has a jar with a picture of the Lego set on it and a note of how much she needs in that jar before she can buy it.  She needs roughly $8.

We give her a standard weekly allowance (because I do want her to learn how to manage money) and she has expectations that she fulfills around the house.  But since she’s not content with having to save up slowly over time, she asked me what chores she could do around the house to earn her money faster.  Suddenly it hit me…..

Dear Lord, she’s asking for merit pay…….

We’ve tried this tactic with her in the past and here’s what it lead to:

1.  She only did the bare minimum to get the chores done.

2.  She learned short cuts on how to get it done quickly (shoving toys under her bed, putting all her clothes in the laundry hamper wether they were clean or not, rapidly taking everything off the table and just putting it all on the kitchen counter, etc.)

3.  Doing just enough chores to get the money she wanted and then stopping.

And eventually not even the dangling of money worked anymore.  She sneered at the chore list, stopped doing any of them, and instead argued for a raise in her allowance.  The “merit pay” was not enough incentive for her to do any of them anymore.

Ugh, being a parent is hard.  We stopped with the “chore list”.

But it made me wonder what would happen if merit pay is instituted here in Alberta.  Now while some of you might be thinking this is a ridiculous comparison, bear with me…..

How long will it take for some teachers to figure out what is the bare minimum required in order to get merit pay?  How long will it take for them to figure out what is truly emphasized (testing, extra curriculars?) and focus on that while dropping other things?  Or even worse, what if some teachers throw their hands up and say, this extra money isn’t worth it so I’m just not going to do anything and let someone else get the merit pay?

It’s been said this system is to reward the good teachers and encourage others to follow suit.  But what if it works in the opposite direction?  What if some of your good teachers start shoving good lessons under the bed?  What if they figure out exactly how much test prep to do in order to gain better scores?  What if they do “just enough” to get the merit pay and then stop whereas before they would have continued on with other programs?  Or ….what if the merit pay isn’t enough incentive?

Some people have said to me that this would never happen.  They have argued that the student should always come first and always be the priority.  And I 100% agree.  That’s why we have so many good teachers doing such good work and putting in hours far and above what they need to do.

As soon as you throw bonus money into the mix, all bets are off.  You’ve now changed the system and those ideals may no longer prevail.  It becomes a game.  Well, I used to run homework club after school but only a few kids were showing up.  So now I’ve scrapped that and I just do test after test after test in my class because it prepares them better, it increases my class average, and this way the whole class get it.  Sadly, a real teacher told me this once.  He is now retired.

I’m reminded of a time early on in my career where I had a principal who gave out these little trophies at staff meetings called “PAT” awards (as in, you deserve a pat on the back). You were supposed to nominate a fellow colleague in order to win one.  In the 2 years this award was given out I received it once (in June) and the reason given was that I was surviving first year teaching very well – geez, thanks.  A colleague of mine had less prep time then any of his other high school counterparts, supervised every school dance, ran a  rocket club, ran after school homework help, coached senior girls volleyball and after eighteen months of consistently “losing”, he finally looked at me and said….”What do I have to do to get one of these things?”  Some other teachers received the award many many times.  And reasons were given like, “Stayed after school to help with the band concert.”  While this was great, this teacher had done one thing in isolation on one night of her life while my other colleague had given up several hours.  Days even.

Good teachers often go without notice.  It’s not the reason why they do what they do.  They do it because that’s what the kids need.  And we don’t need any further recognition than that.  However, once you introduce a system of recognition, don’t be surprised if your teachers turn on you.  Don’t be surprised if they become bitter, resentful, and hurt.  This teacher was only around for a couple more years before we lost him.  I was sad to see him go.

Daniel Pink says the best way to honour what teachers do is to raise their base salary, not to encourage them to chase after some carrot you dangle in front of them.  Value what they do and pay them what they’re worth.  Most of us here in Alberta recognize that we are currently paid very well.  My husband and I are both teachers and we lead a comfortable life.  We own a nice house that we can afford, our kids are clothed and fed well, we pay our bills without difficulty and we even afford the odd trip here and there as a family.  Money is not the issue anymore and the sooner the Alberta government gets that, the better.

So back to my 8 year old.  My husband and I need to sit down and figure out what exactly it is that she is expected to do and pay her a fair value.  We will have this conversation with her and let her negotiate her own terms (she’s surprisingly perceptive for an 8 year old).  If she makes a fair request and we can afford it in our monthly budget, we will consider her terms.  In return, she will agree to what is expected of her and we will expect her to carry that out or she in in violation of the agreement and may be subject to forfeiting her allowance.  She’s 8 and she understands what consequences are.

I believe at the adult level we refer to this as collective bargaining.  And we refer to it as “salary”, not “merit pay”.

We stopped using the extra chore list.  Many countries have stopped using merit pay even though they had it once.  Why?  Neither or them worked.

Merit Pay for Alberta Teachers

I can’t tell you how much it pains me to write this post.  When I voted PC in the last election I did so with a sigh of relief that this would never be a conversation here in Alberta.  I feel duped, mislead, and frankly betrayed.  I can tell you this much, lesson learned…..

Merit Pay is, in my opinion, the beginning of the end of quality education in Alberta.

I tweeted earlier today that I was part of a conversation where I heard a teacher say, “Why would I now share my good lesson plans and ideas with anyone else.  They might take them, use them, their students will do better then mine, and they’ll get the bonus pay and I won’t!”

How desperately sad is that?

Teaching and education are held up through the backbone of collaboration.  Merit pay will begin to institute a dark system of competition.  Where teachers once got together to plan lessons and unit plans, they will now focus on how to increase test scores and hiding their brilliant ideas from others.  Being creative and trying to garner student engagement?  Forget it.  Teaching to the test will rule the day.

There is talk that teachers who go above and beyond in terms of extra curricular activities would be rewarded.  Goodbye my own darling children, it was nice knowing you.  Now mommy has to coach seven sports, run a drama production, and a leadership team to make sure she gets that bonus!  And I guess I should probably start looking for divorce lawyers now, since my husband and I are both teachers and if one of us gets merit pay and the other doesn’t there might be a bit of tension in our household.

Alberta Minister of Education, Jeff Johnson says that he is merely inviting conversation about merit pay right now.  He doesn’t really want to talk about it until collective agreements are signed.  He says his motive for this is that he doesn’t want to bog down negotiations.

Sorry Mr. Minister, but I call foul (and a couple of other words I swore I would never use in my blog).

I think the real reason you want to wait until collective agreements are signed is that you are hoping they are all 3, 4, or 5 year deals so then you can railroad us with Merit Pay legislation and it can no longer be a negotiation point within collective agreements.

We aren’t stupid.  We see what you’re up to.  And it won’t work.

Colleagues that I have had severe disagreements with over the years, people I regularly argue with on twitter because we have completely different teaching styles…..we have all come together on this one.  Merit pay won’t work.  And we won’t sit back quietly while you try to convince the public it’s a good idea.

I’m currently teaching an advertising class to my Grade 8s.  Todays discussion was about propaganda and how to “spin” something to make it sound good.  You can sell it to the public as a way to “reward” good teachers and thereby punish the bad ones….but truth is that every teacher in this province deserves merit pay.

Don’t reward me over another colleague in my school and make them hate me for it.

Don’t make hard working teachers in my school tell their own kids that they can’t take them to hockey because they have to coach basketball.

Don’t force me into the heartbreaking decision to resign from a profession I dearly love because it becomes about the money and not about my students.

Merit pay works great in the private sector.  It’s a sector that was designed in a competitive atmosphere and money as the carrot works great.  Teaching is about collaboration, encouraging kids to learn together and experience the reward of that learning together.  Don’t turn this into something it isn’t.

Look at what has happened in the US.  Look at the studies they have compiled to show that is DOESN’T WORK!

Go back to school Mr. Minister….for those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.