Why Schools Do Not Innovate

This post is in response to Scott Swindells' post of "Where's the Innovation?".

A recent blog post by Seth Godin really resonated with me as to a school district's reluctance to innovate.  He writes:

It's impossible to have a coin with only one side. You can't have heads without tails.

Innovation is like that. Initiative is like that. Art is like that.

You can't have success unless you're prepared to have failure.

As soon as you say, "failure is not an option," you've just said, "innovation is not an option."

This is precisely why most schools systems are institutes of non-innovation. Innovation within a school system(okay, within all systems) frequently involves money.  A district doesn't want any money they spend to result in a failure, since taxpayers demand a constant "positive return on investment" (that phrase mixed with education makes me cringe, so I'll only use it once).  Nobody wants to anger our taxpayers by spending money on something that fails.  

This is the failure is not an option approach.

Who decides what kids should learn?

Stop me if you've heard these before...
"Kids these days can't do simple math without a calculator!"
"Kids these days can't write well at all!"
"Kids these days are lazy!"

So what?  What gives you the right to tell students today what they should learn?  You've never met my students, so in my view you have zero authority to tell them what they should be learning.  On the flip side, if you've never met my students, why is it okay to tell them what they don't need? (as you begin making those budget cuts to eliminate foreign languages and the arts)

Ultimately our kids should have the freedom to learn whatever they want.  There should be no reason that every student should have to take Algebra II before they graduate high school.  If they're interested in it or would like to try mathematics, then go for it.  If they have an interest in art, why would we then tell them that they can only take one art course this semester since they have to take 6 other subjects they don't care about?

Imagine if we required every student to take a painting and drawing class every year from 7th grade to 12th grade.  Why does that sound so blasphemous, yet we can easily require them to take a math class (or two) every year from 7th grade to 12th grade?

Don't get me wrong, I see the great benefits in students taking any mathematics courses.  I'm a math teacher.  I want kids to discover their own interest in learning mathematics on their own schedule, not on some mandated timetable. 

Anatomy of a Makeup Test & Stimulus Package

So you were absent on test day...cue dramatic trombone (you know, wah wah)...for whatever reason: Sickness, family, local sports team championship parade, whatever. So what happens now? Do you get a grand reprieve of having to take the test later than everyone else?!?!?! Let's explore what happens when you are absent on test day (let's say test day was a Monday).

1. You come into school next day (Tuesday) and say "Hey Mr. C, when can I make up that test?"
2. Mr. C, automatically knowing your schedule from memory (like he does for all 112 of his students) says "How about during lunch?"
3. Your response, "Well, I am making up a Psych quiz then, and I have a chem lab to makeup during study hall, and it's a full moon, and I have band practice, then I work, then I have basketball, then I have fun time, so how about Friday?
4. After much debate and discussion of schedules, you get the great idea to make it up after school. Now the after school makeup is tricky.

• Mr. C needs to bring YOUR test to the math planning center
• He must also remember to bring your formula sheet
• He must inform his colleagues that there is a test in his mailbox for this one exceptional student
• Student takes test in a hallway - great testing environment
• Student could conceivably take 85 minutes to take test
• Mr. C checks his mailbox the next day, and puts your test into his makeups to grade

Now multiply this process by 10 students (that is how many missed last week's test). Is this not insanity? From a management standpoint, I got kids coming left and right to make up tests. Can we make everyone's life easier and just not be absent on test day?

Onto the stimulus package. Our current US president is now traveling the country to "sell" the stimulus package to different communities. Most view this as, "Hey, what a cool guy! He is so relatable. He's going to come around and tell us exactly what is in it, and how it's good for us." Didn't we elect this guy to act on our behalf? That is to say, does he NEED to sell it to us? He is our president, we have put our faith in him to act in the best interest of the country, why must he travel the nation to sell this to us? The fact that there is a feeling that it needs to be sold should raise some eyebrows from all citizens, not just the hardcore conservatives.

If anyone has an itemization of what is in this stimulus package, can you e-mail me where it can be found, or post it as a comment here? I have a cool activity we can do with it as a class. I'd like to break this thing down.

-Mr. C

When the kid doesn't pass...make passing easier?

STOP!!!!! Read this article before continuing

So your student got a B+ in a rigorous, difficult, challenging environment. This is unacceptable because it is not an A?!?!?! So what's the solution... Fight fight fight and make it easier to get an A. I hope I am not the only one that sees something terribly wrong with this. Please consider the following situations as they relate to this article...

So apparently I have heard that there are too many people failing the PA Driver's License Exam. The solution is that those failing the test got together and fought PennDOT, successfully changing the driver's test requirements to: drive forward 100 ft, put the car in reverse, turn on the windshield wipers, successfully make a right-hand turn. Immediate ramifications are not known.

SAT's have come under fire because so many students are not meeting their college's SAT requirements. Let's get together and make the SAT an easier test. That way, more kids will get higher scores and be qualified to get into the colleges that they want.

The end result from both situations is an "inignoranted"(totally made that word up) population. Okay, so the driver's license one is a little far-fetched, but I'm not sure the SAT example is totally out of line here.

Rigor is what makes the best the best, the not-so best the not-so best, the average the average, and so on....Without rigor we have no means of determining who the best is, we just are certain that everybody can achieve the standard, and nobody has demonstrated greatness. These parents have defined "fairness" as "everyone gets a trophy/everyone gets an A". An A is exactly that, achieved by the best and brightest, some work really hard to arrive there, some do not need to. Not once in this article was it mentioned that parents encouraged their kids to get better...do a little bit more to get that extra 2 percentage points to EARN the A.

It is often confusing about "Who deserves an A", and I think that definition is different between parent, teacher, and student. Parent and student share a similar definition...my kid works really hard so they deserve an A. In an odd counterexample, what if they work really hard and are learning the concept(s) the wrong way? Should these hard workers not be accountable for content knowledge? Teacher definition of an A is essentially the students that show high-level mastery of content. If that is debatable (that 89%), work-ethic is examined...the rationale of which is that if the student is a hard worker, they will eventually achieve high-level mastery.

In conclusion, I feel the need to address my grading practice. In my gradebook, pre-homework/project grade, there were about 10 kids that had an A average. This pre-homework/project grade is fairly indicative of your master of content. In terms of the AP Exam an A pre-HW would indicate a 5, B a 4, C a 3, D a 2, and F a 1. This is something not set in stone however, and with some preparation for the AP Exam through use of a review book(Barron's) can increase your exam score by 1 to 2. After homework and project, your grade reflects the amount of work that you have done, and the quality of product you have produced. This is minimally relevant to taking the AP test, but very necessary for your future development (college/career).

My job as an educator is not to give you an A, it is to prepare you for college. You need to be put through a high level of rigor so that when you get to college, you have been exposed to a rigorous courseload. If we are not rigorous in our teaching practice, we are not preparing you for college. Relaxing our standards would indicate that we are sending you to college less prepared.

Happy Snow Day,
Mr. C