Variables of Reform

I am constantly amazed to hear lay people talk about what we need to do to improve schools.  I used to laugh.  Now I cry because they have gotten themselves elected to office and they are implementing their theories.  They are doing so with no real comprehension of the complexity of schools.  Worse, the model they promote is the private sector model of competition, money motivation, accountability, choice, etc.  The problem with the private sector model is that approximately 64% of the companies in this country will fail in their first two years.  Choosing this model for student success is beyond ridiculous, it is criminal and outright stupid.  Nevertheless, they have the power to destroy public schools and have set about doing so.  But I drift.  To really improve schools and understand their complexity requires the understanding of a very simple formula, one I made up:

x + y + z = 100

The mathematically inclined will quickly recognize that the solutions to this equation are infinite.  One could choose any number at all for x.  One could then choose any number at all for y.  Once having chosen a number for x and for y, z becomes fixed if we are to have the equation equal 100.  But there remain an infinite number of solutions to this equation.

Let’s say that “x” represents a kid in public school.  Any kid.  Boy, girl, rich, poor, two parents in suburbia, homeless and orphaned, any ethnicity, any kid.  Each kid brings his or her characteristics to the classroom, whatever they may be.  Some are very bright, some not so much; some come from homes that value learning above all, some from homes that value athletics above all, and some from broken homes without any congruent values with school systems.  Some arrive ready to learn, some not.  Some arrive hungry, some not.  Some are chauffeured, some ride the bus, some walk, some drive, and some still ride a bike.  The “x” variable and the complexity of that variable are infinite.  Every single child is uniquely different. 

There cannot be a fixed number for any x.  There are two many attributes within the variable.  Put 20 x’s in a room and you have really escalated the inability to quantify x.  Way too many variables.  In a school, in a school district, in a state the mathematical implications are mind boggling.  We cannot assign a number to x.  The numbers are infinite.

Let’s say that “y” represents any teacher in public school; any teacher, elementary, secondary, male, female, experienced, or rookie.  Each teacher brings his or her characteristics to the classrooms.  Some are truly gifted.  Some are highly motivated. Some are merely compliant.  Some have deep understanding of the subjects they teach, some just superficial knowledge.  As one looks down the hall of a school and the teachers at every door one sees the infinite variables of teachers who will work with the infinite variables of students.  Teachers do this in the context of a school, where “y” expands to include community expectations, resources, administrators, curriculum, instructional support and climate.  The “y” variables are infinite in each school.  Each school and each teacher is uniquely different, and those elements combined are infinite.

There cannot be a fixed number for any y.  There are too many attributes within the variables.  Each teacher varies day-by-day, a faculty more so, an entire state is beyond comprehension.

Let’s say that “z” is the actual instructional process and program that the y’s implement for the x’s: any program, every program, CSCOPE, software and idiotware, textbooks and iPads, and on and on and on.  The other component of “z” is the context in which y and x interact.  Will it be competitive, will it be cooperative, will folks implement in good faith and good humor or under high pressure and stressful circumstances?  The z is critical.  The z is chosen.  The z is prescribed or selected.  The z is the petri dish in which all the y's and x’s interact. 

If someone outside the school mandates the value of z (programs), there is no flexibility for either x (kid) or y (teacher).  They must conform to a new limited range of attributes to make the equation work.  If someone outside the school further mandates the attributes of y, then the x’s are stuck.  They can have only one value and they must all be molded to fit that value. 

The goal of the equation is for each child, each x, to be successful.  For each child to achieve a 100, to be college ready, career ready, future ready, self-learner ready, acculturated with societal values, able to accomplish critical thinking, and to not be obese.  Currently all measured by a state standardized test.  The ludicracy (I know this is not a real word, but it should be.  Better than ludicrousy.) of this model of legislative reform, private sector reform is beyond fathomable.  It is tantamount to asking doctors to prescribe the same treatment for every patient in a context where the merit of the doctor is determined by mortality rates.  Ludicrous!  (A real word.)

That is the problem with mandates.  That is the problem with decisions being removed too far away from the school, the classroom.  That is the problem with lay people arbitrarily superimposing their philosophy and mandating a z.  The simple act of doing so does not create choice, it reduces it.  It does not promote learning, and creativity and experimentation.  The imposition of the external z fixes every other variable.  Teachers must teach to the test.  Students must place their personalities aside and learn to learn only in the ways likely to result in positive scores on the single measure.  The system is constricted, conflicted and choked while the pressure increases.  One cannot be a creative y.  One can not be a creative x.  Not if z is predetermined elsewhere.

Professional educators get this.  They know that one cannot select z until one really knows the x’s and the y’s.  Z is the instructional prescription and climate and philosophy to achieve 100.  Z cannot be chosen in Austin, Washington, or in a central office.  It must be chosen by the professional practitioners in the field.  Well, it doesn’t have to work that way as we currently observe.  It can be prescribed elsewhere and eventually parents and educators will rise up and demand that those who prescribe such uninformed barbarism cease and desist.  Thousands did so in Austin this past weekend.  Hurray!

We are close to that day, but not quite.  We still suffer from the philosophically uninformed, those who know only one philosophy and would apply it to everything save their own family and their church.  A philosophy that really has not worked all that well for a host of entrepreneurs.  So sad.

Stop mandating school reforms outside-in or top-down with no sense of the complexity of the system with which you tinker and experiment.  It is time to free the z to save the x’s and y’s.  I deeply believe that is the only way to actually achieve x=100.