Fire bad students and bad teachers - Give incentives to both

I had no idea that tech blog readers had such an interest in public school education, although it makes sense that we all should. We have all been through the school system ourselves, and probably have children in it now. Alfred Thompson was a teacher and has some thoughts. Robert Scoble keeps his readers focused on the issue. Dan Farber has an audience too. Comments and links to my previous post were awesome. Techmeme keeps track of all the the most popular conversations. Shelly Powers  suggests how high school might look if Steve Jobs was in charge.

The main premise of my last post was that there need to be incentives and rewards for great teachers, and the ability to fire bad teachers. Let me add to that. There need to be incentives for good students and the ability to (fire) divert bad students to more appropriate programs.

If we are going to hold teachers accountable for performance we need to hold students and parents accountable too. We also need to offer alternative programs for students with different learning styles and different interests. The "one size fits all" public school education program doesn't work well for teachers or students.

Students should have incentives, recognition, and rewards for achievement, just like teachers should. Recognition is the best reward in most cases, and it doesn't cost much to do it. Rewards can be simple things like time off, first pick of some programs, special parking spots, free passes to school events, free lunches, whatever... it doesn't need to be expensive. Ask the teachers...they have hundreds of ideas...but no power to implement them.

Students should also have consequences and alternatives. Lets face it, not all students are in the classroom to learn. Some don't want to be there, don't care about learning, and are very disruptive. Get them out. It is a privilege to be in the classroom...make them earn it. If the student can't perform at that high level, then offer a lower level course. If they aren't interested in a college prep course then offer them other vocational programs, or just life skills classes. Some kids learn more about life playing sports than any experience in the classroom. There are lots of ways to learn and lots of different things to learn about. Why tie all students down to one education path?

Parents share an equal part of the responsibility. Every teacher will tell you that most learning happens in the home, especially the life skills and character lessons. If parents aren't involved and working in cooperation with the teachers...they have no right to complain.

Schools are all about local control. Your local school board really controls the school administration, who gets hired, how much they get paid, what curriculum gets taught, how big the class size is, and what programs are offered. How many parents have ever been to a school board meeting? That is where all the important decisions are made.

Presidential candidates, senators, and congressmen have almost nothing to do with public education. They talk a lot, but they really have zero impact on the education process. Governors and state reps have a little more impact because they make the decisions on how much state funding will be allocated to public schools. But, in most states, more than half of public school funding comes from local property taxes. And, the total amount that will be spent is proposed by the local school board and approved by local voters.

It all comes down to incentives and consequences for teachers and students. Unions have taken away incentives and prevented consequences for teachers. The union wants everyone treated and paid equally regardless of ability. All rewards are based on seniority. What a stupid way to run things.

The school boards have not put adequate rewards, consequences, or alternatives in place for students. They need to get creative and get out of the "one size fits all" education program.

Parents are in control. Parents are voters and taxpayers. Parents vote for the school board members and they vote to approve the budgets. Parents pay the taxes that support the schools. Parents teach and motivate their own children. If parents aren't doing their job and making the right decisions...the teachers don't have a chance.

I promise I will get back to my regular topics after this post. :-)

Subscribe - To get an automatic feed of all future posts subscribe here, or to receive them via email go here and enter your email address in the box in the right column.

Comments

[Alfred Thompson]

Great post. I think that many parents don't feel like they have control because they don't feel like they have options. Parents of kids in private schools know they have options and so do not hesitate to influence what goes on in those schools. Not only that but since they are paying twice for education their money really is where their hearts are. Getting parents of public school children to feel the same way would go a long way towards improving things but things are stacked against them especially in larger districts where one vote doesn't seem like a lot.

[Itamar Shamshins]

Don,

I totally agree, and suggest we can sum it up: Accountability (or lack of it) is the single most influential reason for success (or failure) in any system made up of people.

The thing to notice about accountability though, is that all players in the game must share it, or else mediocrity sets in. I think your addition of students to the equation (and through them, their families) is the right way to go.

[Kartik Agaram]

"I had no idea that tech blog readers had such an interest in public school education, although it makes sense that we all should. We have all been through the school system ourselves, and probably have children in it now."

It's more than that. Tech bloggers and readers are the most idealistic group I can think of, combining articulateness with experience as makers/designers. We dream about redesigning social systems just like computer ones.

[Jason Rubenstein]

Right on Don - I agree!

Somebody please do something about education and health care!!!

[brian]

One of the worst decisions government has made is to make primary education universal service. Even though its aim was to give every kid a shot at an education, what has resulted is that most schools have devolved into little more than child care operations with textbooks.

Parents can offload their kids onto the backs of teachers for most of the day without sacrificing their jobs. If schools could selectively admit students with the consequences that parents would have to alternatively home school then it would force parents to put greater effort into raising their kids better.

[Keith W]

I agree with your points completely. I've seen my father's experience as a High School teacher, and it is not pretty. I'm glad you bring up the accountability of the students and parents, as it is popular to just blame the instructors. I think all three parties need to be working together in order to extract the maximum value from the time spent. If any one of the three, be it the teacher, student, or parent is absent or lacking it can seriously disrupt the learning process.

[Mack D. Male]

I think parents should have more than an equal share of the responsibility. My Mom was a preschool teacher for many years, and when the students are that young, it's easy to see which parents are involved and which are not. The kids with involved parents do MUCH better.

[Yin-So Chen]

Great point, Don. It makes no sense to keep the good teachers together with bad teachers, and good students together with bad students; no one benefits.

I do wonder what would happen to the bottom of the pile in such cases - would places that have difficulty to attract teachers today able to innovate? It is hard to imagine what it would be like, which is probably why we have public school systems the way it is today to ensure that everyone will meet minimum standards.

Also another question that constantly comes up - would parents opting for better educations for their kids able to opt out on their tax obligations. That would be another interesting development.

[Nick Fera]

Don,

Great points to start a debate.

I sit on a local school board where >90% of the funding comes from local taxpayers, nearly all residential. It's a tough message for our community (property value increases do not equate to increased school funding, though the state sees it that way), but it makes the role of the administrative staff and board very focused. Our goal is to great a district where "every child thrives."

With one of the bottom 10% of funding per child in our state, our district ranks in the top 10 (yes that's 1 through 10) in performance each year. Why? Because of the successful partnership between teachers, students, administrators and parents. Everyone clearly understands what is at stake, and even the children who are "bored" by school or are having a more difficult time, are differentiated in the classroom by marvelous teachers, and encouraged by loving parents. We believe, I believe, every child wants to learn.

Funding, or lack thereof, doesn't get in the way of progress and success. It's but one issue to resolve annually. Unions are not the problem...in fact I beleive they can encourage good staff to develop a life long love for teaching, when the relationship with it's district is sound, and grounded on one simple principle...we're all there for the children.

I think funding, government interference or lack of support, "good" versus "bad" students (your words not mine), and all the other things mentioned are excuses for failure. Of course there are tough choices, and there are going to be some setbacks. But when a district gets behind a common purpose as simple and "every child thriving", the chance for succes is real. The future can be bright. And, quite frankly, I see it as the community's, parent's adminstrator's, board's and teacher's moral obligation to get it right.