Perhaps now on the cusp of a new year is not the time to
reflect on the processes and goals of evaluation: student evaluation, professional evaluation,
institutional evaluation. We try very
hard in education to allow each new year to begin with a clean slate for staff
and kids. It is a new year, not a
continuance of previous years, though we all know adults who have had the same
year over and over for decades. And we
know that whatever records, whatever evaluations, whatever assessments from
previous years follow each adult and each child into this new year. And, we know that perceptions of reality tend
to be more powerful than reality, whatever that is. How in the world do we determine who are our best
employees, good employees, poor employees?
How in the world do we determine who are our most successful kids, least
successful kids? How in the world do we
determine which are the best schools and school systems? How do we observe, collect data and make a
judgment about such complex human behaviors?
Are the goals and the processes of observation and evaluation so flawed
as to be simultaneously pointless and impossible?
In my lifetime I have had one wife, one son and one
daughter. My wife is the best wife I
have ever had. My daughter the best
daughter and my son the best son I have ever had. Should I care how they compare to other wives
and other sons and daughters? Is this
evaluation on my part biased? Is it
true? Does it matter? They are who they are as am I. I can improve as can they. But should my improvement goals be assigned
to me by them, the state, or self-selected?
Who decides and how? Who
evaluates and how?
I like vanilla ice cream.
You may think that is a generalized attribute of my personality, and
perhaps you are correct. I have consumed
a large variety of ice cream flavors, (I used to manage a Baskin Robbins store
and used that opportunity to sample and sample.
It is from that experience that I commenced “Scoop from the Supe”.) and
I know that to my taste vanilla is my favorite, especially real homemade
vanilla and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.
That is my preference, those are my tastes. Should I judge others for their tastes? Should it be that chocolate eaters are
somehow inferior to vanilla eaters because I am the boss and I like
vanilla? And what about those who do not
have a favorite and love sampling a wide variety of flavors based on mood,
availability and circumstance? Are they
somehow flawed? Shall vanilla become the
defined preference, the defined “best” because I say so? Should the “Vanilla Factor” be applied to
evaluation of kids, staff, schools and districts?
And frankly I laugh at my private sector friends who claim
to have simple, objective measures of success and productivity. When the market determines success we are
simply saying that there is an intersection between peoples’ willingness and
ability to pay and their tastes. I like
General Motors, you like Ford or Toyota or Honda. If enough people fall in each set of likes
then all four companies will be successful and argue that they are the best
because some people choose them. If the
product of any given company was clearly the best using every variable available
to us wouldn’t everyone buy it leaving us no market choice, and therefore eliminate
the term market? Private sector success
is based on a much higher level of luck and taste than private sector folks are
likely to admit, assuming that somehow they have the secrets to
evaluation. Why are there Blackberries,
iPhones and Galaxies? Why are there both
Google and Bing? The “market” determines
this in a mysterious way not known until after the fact based on the
intersection of peoples’ willingness and ability to pay and their tastes, not
divine inspiration, sophisticated “objective” measures, and the shroud of
superiority claimed by some. If we all
wake up tomorrow and decide that we just do not like iPhones and iPads then no
amount of marketing will save Apple.
Add the Heisenberg Principal of Observation (a.k.a. the
Uncertainty Principle) to the above conundrums and observation and evaluation
really become suspect. Heisenberg, a
brilliant physicist, simply stated that the observation of any process will
result in a change in the process by the simple fact it is being observed. This is true of the behavior of atoms at the
sub atomic level and true of the behavior of people. Teachers know this to be true on the day the principal
sits in the back of the room to observe.
I know this to be true comparing how I sing in the shower with how I
sing a solo in church. We are altered by
the observer and influenced by the variables of judgment of the observer. One of the most powerful arguments against
standardized measures of the quality of schools and kids is that we all now
teach to the tests and the other variables of measure. Of course we do. Tell us the measure, what you are going to
observe about our behavior and we refocus on that measure. No one does differently! Tell a private sector company that profit is
no longer the measure of success but employee salary and satisfaction is the
variable of importance, then the behavior of the company will dramatically change. They will focus on the measure of judgment.
We have huge problems in schools around this notion of
observation and evaluation. If every
child is happy and productive, and every parent is pleased with their child is
the school successful? What if that is
true but the standardized measures indicate that the school is woefully under performing
compared to other schools and that state imposed sanctions should ensue? What if a teacher always has a high number of
students who are successful on standardized measures, but parents and kids
dislike the teacher? Is that teacher a success
or a failure? Can we be all things to
all people, lowering taxes and funding while increasing services and outcomes
and popularity? I think not.
It has been my observation that unless I am consciously
thinking about it, I have the most affinity and affection for those people who
think like I think and act like I act and value what I value. In other words, “The Vanilla Factor”. If I must judge a student, an employee, a
school or a district no matter how hard I may try to make the observational
data and the evaluation “objective” the bottom line is that my values are
inherent in the measures and my preferences are inherent in the judgment. Currently, the Texas Legislature is
determining those measures and values and they are doing so without
professional license. They are supported
by the notion that measures of observation can be objective and used for
comparison, and that somehow comparing school districts is an important thing
to do. Our performance is not determined
by the market, it is determined by the day-to-day observation and evaluation of
every kid, every employee, every parent and every community. The Legislature mandates the outcomes on
STAAR and other variables over the local variables so that communities who believed
their schools were good are now told they are not so good using standardized
measures. For instance, when I began my
career, high school dropouts were viewed as a solution, not a problem. Kids who could not perform and misbehaved
were encouraged to quit, much like
charter schools and private schools still do today. Now for public schools if they drop out it is a bad thing and we
are held accountable. Amazing. To see my thoughts on all standardized
measures please view my previous post “Wrong on Two Counts.”
The very act of observation impacts performance. The variables used to observe performance impacts
performance. If standardized outcomes mean more than
anything else we will sacrifice kids and staff for the purpose of achieving
what I believe are spurious outcomes at best.
The evaluation that follows the application of such observational data
is the most important assessment to the state.
The evaluation locally is much more likely to be based on the Vanilla Factor: If I like you and you think like me you are
good. But, if you have the wrong bumper
sticker it is time to go. If I perceive my
child is somehow short changed or treated unfairly then as a parent I am
mad. If we do not value this program
more than any other then I am mad. It is
fascinating to look back over Board Notes and identify what issues brought
parents and patrons to the Board to complain.
None have ever showed up concerned about TAKS or STAAR outcomes. It is always the Vanilla Factor.
It is that vice that is squeezing the life out of public
education. We all know we are held
accountable for standardized measures and we understand that given the nature
of standardized measures at least half of the districts in the state will be in
the lowest two quartiles. Every Friday
night half the football teams in Texas lose.
Should we therefore conclude that 50% of the football programs in the
state are failures? We also know that
there is a tendency to judge folks on variables more intimate than standardized
measures: Do we like this person? Do they think like I think? Are their values like my values? If so, we shall keep them regardless of standardized
measures. If not we shall run them off
regardless of standardized measures.
Therein lays the squeeze.
I am so very fond of and proud of the professional leadership
in Edna. As I look around the Cabinet
table at Fred, Nancy, Madalyn, Jamie, Demetric, Paul and Deborah I could not
feel better about the quality of our leadership. I am equally personally proud of the diversity
around that table. None of us are
exactly alike. Some of us value this
measure more than that measure, etc. We
think differently on a variety of topics.
We all have different leadership styles, talents, history and to some
extent values. But when we arrive at
consensus I am convinced it is the best possible solution available. Hence I value collaborative decision making,
diversity, and I work hard to avoid the Vanilla Factor in my observation and evaluation
of this team. I want to work with folks
who prefer chocolate and folks who prefer something different every time they
eat ice cream.
For the past 14 years this is the best school system I have worked
for. For the past 14 years this has been
the best Board I have worked for. Our
standardized measures are good, our intangible measures are good, our employees
are the best group I have worked with and our kids are the best kids I have
worked with. I care about the
standardized measures only because the state tells me I have to care and I find
them interesting, but I believe the state is wrong. If the state is going to judge us entirely on
standardized outcomes then the state should at least have the courage to say
all efforts toward improving those outcomes are supported, i.e., teaching to the
test, and all efforts to achieve success on any other outcome is pointless. Parents need to know that. Parents also need
to understand how standardized outcomes work via the normal curve and that even
if we improve every year we are not likely to ever improve our relative position
compared to other districts unless those other districts have a serious decline.
Parents and patrons and teachers need to
know that nothing matters more than those outcomes; not our football season, not
the number of volleyball coaches, not the number of kids in the marching band, not
home economics, and not class rank. Nothing
matters more than passing STAAR. When we
say we ensure a quality education for all we mean ensure all pass STAAR. Ludicrous.
Or, if an employee is going to be evaluated totally on the
Vanilla Factor, he or she needs to know that as well.
All evaluations are based on observation of some
variables. All observations impact the
performance of the observed. All
variables of observation are influenced by the preferences and values and
beliefs of the observer. If all
observation of human behavior is by definition subjective, all evaluations,
therefore, are subjective. Should we
stop evaluating? No. Should we be honest regarding our
evaluations? Yes. If our evaluations are purely based on state
performance measures let us say that and be prepared to take the lumps when the
parents and community complain about our total shift in focus. If our evaluations are purely based on the
popularity, the alignment, and/or the local Vanilla Factor, let us say that and
be prepared to take the lumps when the state announces we are worthless. To come anywhere close to a fair evaluation,
to have any sense of ethics at all, we absolutely must be honest up front
regarding the variables we will use to measure success and we must announce
that we have discovered a great truth:
we cannot be all things to all people.
Why not? Because not all people prefer vanilla.