"Evaluate that!" - Schools for Children | Education

"Evaluate that!" - Schools for Children

Published July 18, 2009 @ 04:35AM PT

As I end my week of guest blogging at change.org I realize that while I have discussed what our schools are really about, what technology really means, how to change our schools, how to find the best teachers, and how to help our students find the best technologies for themselves. I haven't yet dealt with the realities on "the ground." So, to do that, I'm offering a new version of a post from my blog earlier this year...

My son went to a great high school. Among the many things they did well was to use a grading system which combined letter grades with long narrative evaluations. At the end of his ninth grade year, this mixture allowed me to see the great problem with our evaluation of students even in the best schools.

For at the end of that year his Latin Class evaluation read (in part) this way: "[He] was the best student in the class, he completed both Latin I and Latin II this year. He will need to take future courses at [a nearby] college in order to continue his advancement. Grade C-"

"What grade," I asked the teacher, "did the second best student get?"

I was told that my son got a bad grade because he did not do his homework. "Apparently," I said, "he didn't have to." But, you see, this teacher had a rubric. Homework was 25% of the grade, and apparently there was no block in the rubric for doing two years of work in one.

I didn't really fight. I didn't care. The next year he was sitting among college students reading Ovid. That's what matters.

Except, that is not what matters.

"Can I write "Dear parent, your son has greatly improved on things not considered important by the school [reporting] system"?" Tomaz Lasic asked on Twitter today. Mr. Lasic is a teacher in Western Australia dealing with "troubled" children, and a brilliant observer of the system. He followed up: "In my 'low achievers' class: Where's the "halted [self]abuse", or the "began to smile" box to tick?" And: "Every time a particular kid (totally socially inept past) walks in our office and says please, or gives a high-five, we say: "Evaluate that!"

What is our national standard (whatever nation you are in) for getting a child to smile? For getting a child to publicly ask a question? For getting a child to confidently present an idea? For getting a child to be willing to ask for help? Or to ask to play with another child?

What is the national statistical trend line for feeling safe in school? For picking up that first book of interest? For solving an interpersonal problem for the first time? For absorbing an unfair call in athletics without going off?

I know my son did well in Latin. Not just because he was taking a college course as a high school sophomore, but because later, as he took up French, he rushed through that learning, and at one point last year, got a free trip to Algiers through his employer because he was the only French-speaking tech guy. I know he did well in Latin because I can ask him about original meanings in ancient texts, and he can give me all the possibilities. I know he did well in Latin simply because he would come home from school and talk about it, in that excited way people learning new things do.

And Mr. Lasic knows how his students are doing as well. He is a teacher - and I assume, a great teacher - and teachers know their students. They see them day by day. They watch their frustrations. They watch their triumphs and they watch their failures. These are complex things. A great writer could surely create a book out of any student's year in school. A "deep map" of that learning experience as William Least Heat-Moon might say.

But we don't ask for that. We don't encourage that. We won't pay for that. Instead we expect rubrics which lead to 'consistent grading' which lead to letter grades and tick boxes.

There are so many things we hope children get from their education, but when we discuss "data driven decision making," or "accountability," or "standards," or "merit pay" for teachers we become complete reductionists, assessing (very badly) a tiny fragment of all that expected learning - and most often - not even anything which is really important. And in doing this we tell children they are worthless, and we assure that success in school is a matter of socio-economics and playing the "those-in-power" game, and nothing else.

See, it does not matter if a child is rushing ahead or struggling to keep up. We do the same thing to anyone who doesn't measure up to our fictional "average." We crush them, demean them, and sneer at their accomplishments. And in doing so, we prove our worthlessness and lack of credibility to virtually all students.

So when people talk about measurement in education, I always get angry. First, because we can not free the curriculum until we stop our destructive assessment habits. Second, because I know that neither Arne Duncan nor any of the big "accountability" school bosses - Joel Klein, Paul Vallas, Michelle Rhee - would give a dime of merit pay to Mr. Lasic for helping that kid learn to smile, nor even to that Latin teacher for letting my son rush ahead. And I know that schools which must spend years making their children simply feel safe will always be rated below those in wealthy suburbs. Because you can not discuss "standards" or "evaluation" or even "accountability" until you adopt some kind of legitimate sense of what counts in the education of each individual child. And we are nowhere close to even having that conversation.

I began this week of blogging with the question of what we want our schools to do. And I end the week here - asking that we evaluate our students as humans. Asking that we meet their needs. Asking that we give them the supports they require to grow into successful adults.

Because when it comes down to it, we must remember that children are the "customers" in education. Not America's corporate elite. Not even the parents. We do not want our children limited by the hiring needs of General Electric, nor by the expectations of parents who have themselves been victimized by the education system.

So our schools need to be student centered, they must embrace student choice, and they must measure in human terms.

Please, let us stop tinkering around the edges, and let us begin the real work of fundamental change.

- Ira Socol

To Clay Burell - thank you for this opportunity, and thank you for all the work you do to keep education's real issues at the forefront. To Shelly Blake-Plock who preceded me here and Jon Becker who will follow, I am delighted to be in such illustrious company, to share this conversation.

You can find my blog on education, technology, and "special needs" education at SpeEdChange . You can find my books on Amazon.com.

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Comments (12)

I cheered for the first blog, and cheered again this time. A voice -- a reasoned voice-- explains the heart of education --to lead, to bring up. That means as a whole child, guiding the human, not forcing information. Some children, not just special needs kids, carry habits and hurts that prevent them from accepting learning; they may be highly intelligent, but their focus is not in school. If we teach each child with care, we may reach them. Teaching and learning always start with the student. Lead each from where s/he is towards where s/he will shine in his/her world-- and that means growth not listed in the mandated curricula. If you think students are disengaged and dispirited, exasperated with "it's on the test," also please speak about the teachers who want to lead the child, but..."it's on the test." So how do we clarify for the Duncans of the world, that in each classroom, in each chair, sits someone waiting to be acknowledged for what they can do now and what they want to do in the future. But that future isn't what's in the mandate of today, it is in the imagination of each student under the care of a teacher who leads that child through processes of learning to awaken and realize the dream. It's not just facts; their importance changes. it's about learning to be human and learning to learn to solve dilemmas within a community. As John Dewey explained, “
Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” Yes, we learn and teach the information that is "standard" today, but each child may grow from a different point and from so much more! --so much more that is not "accountable" in the "proving game" of mandates. However, the students are "improving." [See "Proving While Improving", ASCD Whole Child Newsletter http://www.wholechildeducation.org/resources/newsletter.jhtml?id=37653 ] How do we clarify that?

Posted by Sheri Edwards on 07/18/2009 @ 08:11AM PT
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Another great post. Thank you for your work and for pushing all of us to look at the often overlooked areas of school reform. Your commitment to child centered education is empowering.

Posted by Charlie Roy on 07/18/2009 @ 11:21AM PT
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I second what Charlie said. Enjoyed reading your posts here.

"As we enter the 21st century, it is time to begin measuring what we value rather than valuing what we measure." Glaser Progress Foundation

Posted by William Farren on 07/18/2009 @ 06:56PM PT
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I want to thank Clay for bringing Ira on as a guest blogger this week and thank you Ira for these fantastic posts. This one in particular I intend on sharing with the teachers I work with.

Posted by Carl Anderson on 07/19/2009 @ 12:55AM PT
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Ira, thanks for giving the us all Something To Behold.

It really was. The door's alway open for more.

Posted by Clay Burell on 07/19/2009 @ 01:12PM PT
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Ira, your thoughts brought tears to my eyes.

I teach in a Title 1 school. A legacy of NCLB is that children and educators are judged by test scores---test scores that don't measure many of the most vital aspects of any individual. I look at the "whole child" and am frustrated when children are seen as bundles of deficiencies and strengths as determined by test scores!

Posted by Kim Pennington on 07/20/2009 @ 06:46AM PT
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Another great post. I visited a Montessori school in Germany and they had a MUCH saner approach to student evaluation. I'll try to outline the steps below.

Instead of letter grades which tell students nothing, students receive much more descriptive feedback detailing their strengths and weaknesses, often focusing on their individual goals. For example, instead of handing out a B+, a teacher may write, "Johnny is working much better with others than he was previously. His final work is generally excellent though he does seem to be struggling with time management, spending too much time on some projects, then not having enough for others."

After that, the teacher gets together with the student and parents/guardians to discuss how they're going to contribute to Johnny's future success. That's right, teachers don't just take points away from Johnny, assuming he knows what he's doing wrong and how he can improve. They also don't automatically assume that Johnny is the (only) one who could improve. The teachers and parents also take responsibility and the plan will include what they can do to support Johnny as well.

Some of you may be thinking now, "But without grades, how will other educational institutions and future employers know how Johnny compares to others if he doesn't have any grades to show for his work?" Well, Johnny and his teachers will be keeping an ongoing portfolio of his work, showcasing his abilities. Sure, these portfolios takes longer to read than a grade point average, but they have the advantage of actually being representative of the student and not just an indication of how they "measure up to our fictional average."

I think it's important for people to know that this kind of student evaluation isn't just idealist dreaming - it ALREADY exists and is VERY SUCCESSFUL in developing effective learners and mature people.

Posted by Chris Fritz on 07/21/2009 @ 03:09PM PT
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i was never a star at math, more a star at math homework copying in homeroom. but i'm getting interested in statistics and probability from reading nassim taleb, author of the black swan. statistics have often been misused in medical research and financial reporting. i don't understand them well, but i intend to try. i need to understand how statistics/probablity have been used in education accountability testing. taleb says we need to acknowledge that there are so many unknowns that we are playing at knowing with statistics. he advocates observation and trial and error methods for many problems. that resonates with me teaching hard to reach students. a one size fits all approach doesn't work. even 'evidence-based' methods don't often work. i observe and i try different things. with the flexibility i use in teaching, i'm going to need something more flexible to show student progress.

Posted by v v on 07/21/2009 @ 05:15PM PT
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Excellent writing, Ira. I have been phrasing and rephrasing these sentiments to my teacher peers and to administration for a long time. I hope your human analyses of education over these past few days will be heard. The data units called "students" or "pupils" are, as some of us have discovered, kids living their lives, not competitors in a game of world economics.

Posted by Terry Smith on 07/21/2009 @ 06:30PM PT
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Thanks for some truly outstanding ideas this week, Ira. I hope your collection of posts to Change.org will be sent all over the world to teachers, parents, students, administrators, and legislators.

This is the kind of thinking that we need to have change happen.

Posted by Dan McGuire on 07/21/2009 @ 07:00PM PT
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nice post ira. spot on. the tests are "reducing" us - as you say. they control too much of our goings on. in a direction we all are saying we don't want to go.

some ideas i've been kicking around for alternative assessments - would love to hear your thoughts:

1) what you find when you google a kid (this would encourage projects that live on rather than getting trashed after they are graded)

2) what kinds of questions the kid asks

3) how everyone else is doing. we know we learn more when we teach - so how are the others in this kid's community (in class and/or online) doing. define success by how well a kid has brought others along

4) how the others view him/her. of the things this kid publishes - how many hits does he/she get. etc...

Posted by monika hardy on 07/22/2009 @ 12:14AM PT
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Always love to read your work, Ira! ~SK

Posted by S K on 08/15/2009 @ 06:40PM PT
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