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Volume 2, No. 1
Winter/Spring, 2008 Exclusively online at
www.EducationHall.com
The "P" Word It’s 2:30 a.m. and I’ve finally gotten my beautiful 10-month-old daughter to sleep…again. I love her to death, but for heaven’s sake I could use some sleep! I have been awake since midnight and have long since passed the sensation of being tired. I collapse in my comfy chair and flip through the 500 satellite channels hoping to find a magic sleeping pill. The sleeping pill channel eluded me; however, I did find a channel selling a “teacher in a box.” It was amazing…and unbelievably simple. My only responsibility was to call immediately, allocate half of my school’s 2008 budget, earmark a few thousand dollars each year thereafter, and this “just add water” teacher was mine. “Sit back and watch your test scores soar!” This bizarre recollection is an obvious result of my sleep deprivation (except for the part about my daughter becoming nocturnal), but how farfetched is it really? Over the last few months my inbox has been riddled with emails promoting one-size-fits-all solutions for students struggling in reading, math, and any other topic under the sun. My phone seems to ring daily with incredibly motivated salespeople attempting to sell a new skeleton key that will unlock higher test scores. With administrators operating under intense scrutiny, increased accountability, and teachers working in the daily pressure cooker we call our educational system, it is no wonder we are desperate for answers, reeling for solutions, and willing to try almost anything. I ask you this: Would you trust a doctor program to perform heart surgery? Would you like a firefighter program pull you from a burning building? Would you spend half of your salary on a mechanic program to get your car back on the highway? No, that would be ludicrous. So why do we pour our trust, our money, and our children’s futures into the cardboard hands of a reading program? The appeal of a quick fix to a complex problem is immense. In reality, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Why do the health and fitness guarantees of the Ab-Wheel, Thighmaster, and Miracle Juicer morph into guaranteed places for dust to gather? They sit in the closet because none of them comes with a person. The catalyst – and most important component – in each of these products is a human being. Without a brain, a heartbeat, and simple motivation, your six-pack will remain hidden, your thighs will not firm, and your diet will continue to consist of Pepsi and pepperoni pizza. In other words, change will not occur simply because your credit card statement reflects a purchase from QVC. It is time we stop using the “P” word and start using the “T” word. It is not a program that educates kids, raises test scores, and prepares our children for tomorrow. It’s a teacher – or, more accurately, it’s a collective group of teachers using a multitude of best practices throughout the students’ educational careers. In a Reading Today article, Richard Allington claims “high-quality reading instruction cannot be boxed up and shipped to a site.” There is no need to look beyond the school parking lot to find the greatest source of knowledge, information, and expertise that will impact children. Teachers. Mike Schmoker titles back-to-back sections in his seminal book Results Now with “Instruction: The #1 Factor in Achievement” and “It’s About Teaching (Stupid).” He boldly states, “the single greatest determination of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels. It is instruction.” The profound evidence he presents details many studies that demonstrate the unparalleled impact quality teachers have on student achievement. His research discusses a study that discovered “teaching had 6 to 10 times as much impact on achievement as all other factors combined.” Such words are difficult to ignore. So why do we? Programs do not work alone. Each program I have ever seen, heard of, or used all needed a competent teacher to deliver quality instruction. Save your money – do not waste it on fix-it programs with unrealistic projected outcomes. Don’t pay for the shipping and handling, the follow-up monitoring, the “next” series or the “supplemental” material that is not included in the original price. It would behoove you to send your teachers to a conference, bring in experts to speak to your staff, or just buy them dinner and get some deep conversations going. These are all much more credible and worthwhile options than buying any program that will “fix” our kids. There are experts in your building right now that have a plethora of knowledge and experience that you can build upon…use them.
Bring Derek
Cordell to your school or district: Click
http://www.EducationHall.com/contact.htm for more information. |
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© 2008 EducationHall. All rights reserved. |
