Among the identical twins, 42 pairs out of 280 pairs showed significant differences in reading improvement during the year studied, said lead researcher Jeanette Taylor, an associate professor of psychology at Florida State.

In each case, the teachers also had significantly different quality scores. Twins with similarly good teachers got similar scores.

And yet, U.S. schools of education continue to churn out substandard teachers (which is not to say that many excellent teachers are being produced as well). Here is the bottom line: To the degree a school, district or state invests in its teachers, learners will progress to the same degree. In the end it’s not the facilities, resources or PC considerations that get results; it’s having smart, well-trained teachers.

The researchers believe their results showed the best teachers made the biggest difference in learning achievement. Genetic differences between students seemed to disappear in classrooms taught by less effective teachers, because children don’t reach their potential, the researchers found.

Interesting final sentence in the quote above. Could it be that political lobbies prefer that students are equally poorly taught in a misguided attempt to be egalitarian? Surely they don’t think that far ahead; they’re just incompetent.

Give me a core of really good teachers, and I’ll show you a successful school.

Over the summer I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a course at the Principals’ Training Center for International School Leadership (PTC), and I have to say, it was the most valuable–and intensely demanding–professional development I have received in 18 years as an educator. The course title was “Creating and Administering an Effective School,” and the training was expertly honed to the topic by presenters/facilitators Bambi Betts and Julie Ryan. I gained a multitude of insights, but I’d like to direct my comments to the ones that stood out the most to me.

Teacher/teaching quality is, by far, the most accurate indicator of a school’s success.
As our pre-reading for the course, the PTC required us to read an accessible and concise book titled, “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.” The central thesis is that there is no substitute for a good classroom teacher. The authors deeply investigated school systems around the world and came to the clear conclusion that all of the best-performing school districts place great emphasis on hiring and training the best teaching candidates. Teachers in those systems were offered good but not necessarily great packages. However, systems invested considerable time and money into training their teachers and providing a supportive, nurturing environment for them.

While this is not revelatory, it does provide insights into why some schools are “better” than others. In my experience, schools which funnel a lot of money into the external and/or superficial and don’t recognize the importance of placing top teachers first are destined to prolong their progress, if they progress at all.

Student learning is the focal point of all we do.
Considerable time at the PTC was devoted to the importance of student learning. Again, this is nothing new, but how often do we as educators and administrators get lost in minutiae to the detriment of learning? Stated another way, I, as an administrator, should not make many, if any, decisions before asking myself, “How is this going to impact student learning?”

To drive home this point, our first day we were introduced to “Maria,” a fictitious student seated in a chair in the center of our meeting room. We were admonished to keep Maria in mind in all of our activities that week. While this was a simple ploy, it was simply effective in keeping us focused on what and who really matter.

Mission, vision, and principles come first.
As we require a compass to find our way through challenging environments, so we need core principles to keep us on track when thousands of voices are calling for our attention. Our course strongly emphasized that effective schools have a clear mission and philosophy in which all major stakeholders have a deep understanding and investment. When we see ourselves diverting from the path, our mission, vision and principles provide us with an anchor which, if referred to often, will keep us from being tossed off course by the storms around us.

The right people need to be doing the right things.
How often do schools organize themselves around subject specific or grade level departments just because that’s how it’s always done? We discussed in depth how that our most talented people need to be leading our curricular, activities, and other groups within the school. These people may or may not be in the same department or grade level as the people on their committees or in their groups. Let your best people shine and bring other colleagues up with them.

Teachers should not be working in a vacuum.
Collaboration is an essential component and skill of effective schools and today’s workplace as a whole. Quite simply, we learn more when we collaborate, and we need to model this collaboration for our students. If we aren’t sold on the collaboration, our students won’t be, either.

Teachers need to be models.
How many times have you been to a meeting at school and thought, “Why does my leader tell me to teach one way, and conducts the meeting in the exact opposite way? Shouldn’t I model my leader in the classroom?” One thing I loved about my 7-day course at the PTC is that the presenters practice what they preach. They were not dominating course time; rather we were stimulated into discussion and/or action and then directed to get to it while they facilitated closely. In short, we should practice what we preach and preach correct principles based on the latest research.

While I learned an incredible amount during my seven days, teacher quality, student learning, the importance of mission, properly organizing people, collaborating, and modeling were the learnings that have been in the forefront of my mind since the conclusion of the course. Much of what I’m doing in this new school year is a result of the summer training I received, and I have every intention of attending PTC courses this school year and into the future.

…I wondered how many schools could point to someone, anyone, who is in charge of learning. By that I mean someone who manages the culture of the school by focusing not on outcomes as much as how learning is writ large in the system. Someone who also understands the ways in which social Web technologies accentuate the need for the learning skills we’ve desired all along: creativity, critical thinking, independent thought, collaboration, etc. I know I keep going back to this, but I wonder how many of us can look at our colleagues and answer the question “How does that person learn?” And think of the leaders in our schools in that light as well.

The Langwitches blog focuses on this question and more specifically asks: What is the difference between waiting to be taught and willing to learn? Whether it be in working with students or teachers, it appears that a learner who is waiting to be taught is on a steeper learning curve and perhaps more difficult to work with than one who is willing to learn.

A major factor not to be underestimated is that the presenter of a novel approach has to be a practitioner of what he or she is proposing and have the concept/skill/approach/content/mindset deeply ingrained in his or her own being. In other words, the teacher/facilitator must be a model or very active learner of what is being conveyed. The teacher must be practicing what he or she is preaching.

In education, there may be too many of us willing to slide along without seeking simply to become better at what we do or keeping informed of innovations and evolutions in our profession. Would we want to go to a doctor (or lawyer, for that matter) who finishes his degree and then stops studying and keeping current in his field? Of course not. Should parents of our students expect anything less of us as educators?

But back to the question, the most important thing that I can do in terms of trying to develop myself, my teachers, or my students is to be an active practitioner of the skillset/mindset I’m attempting to transfer. Then, perhaps, those around me will be actively engaged and willing to learn rather than waiting to be taught.

Comments?

Image by Amarand Agasi

Sipe explains:

One simple way that could help students to become more effective writers is to encourage student blogs. Blogs require students to write long form compositions that require analysis and critical thinking. Since it is publicly viewable, students will want to proofread for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. It is also a fun way to express yourself and can even encourage a passion for writing.

Unbelievably, the study indicates that only rarely do high school teachers require students to write anything more than a paragraph, which makes me wonder how any critical writing can be happening at all.

Photo by Susan NYC

The student’s nightmare began when he was a fifth grader, when his father began to keep track of his academic ranking in the class.

Ranked only within the top 10, he was frequently subjected to ridicule by parents and relatives.

“If you fail to enter a key university, you had better kill yourself, and I would not drop a single tear …” he quoted his father as threatening.

Like nearly all students of his age, he was put on a quasi-military regimen.

A college can provide a brief respite from pressure, but soon the specter of employment expectations will begin to loom.

This approach to education is not limited to China, but is evident throughout most Asian countries. I think it’s clear that the effects of such an approach to education are having and will have deleterious effects in the long run; the question is whether Asian nations believe the trade-off is worth it.

Cartoon by Zhou Tao