Teachers, Politicians and Philanthropists

Re: “Christie Wants to Grade the Teachers” March 4, 2011, The Wall Street Journal.

Re: “How teacher development could revolutionize our schools” Feb. 28, 2011, The Washington Post.

The real issue is why don’t we think of public education like it was a computer system? A teacher is one element in an organizational system like Microsoft Windows is one element in a computer system. Of course any analogy breaks down if you list too many comparisons. The key point is that public education is an organizational system. If you accept that premise then systems theory applies to public education.

Politicians and philanthropists are thinking systemically by suggesting changes to the feedback loop in the education system to measure, evaluate and reward teachers. That feedback loop already exists but could be improved with technology such as video. However these changes do not take into consideration the system principles that apply to organizations.

Russell Ackoff lists basic principles about a system. “If we have a system of improvement directed at improving the parts taken separately you can be absolutely certain that the performance of the whole will not be improved.”

For example, leadership, students, assessments and curriculum are also parts of the organizational system in public education. By focusing on improving teachers separately from leadership, students, assessments or curriculum we can be absolutely certain that the performance of the whole public education system will NOT be improved.

“The performance of a system depends on how the parts fit together, not how they perform separately.” Improving student outcomes (lower drop out rate, etc.) depends on how the parts of the public education system fit together, not how teachers perform separately from how the other elements of the public education system perform.

This will feel like a lecture if I keep going. There are many great systems consultants. The best program for improving public education is the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program because the process deals with public education as an organizational system.