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TOPIC: Accountability as a Barrier

Lesson Element .1: ALack of Teacher Accountability@

We Currently Lack Accountability.

Teachers are promoted one step on the salary schedule every year.

Makes no difference how good or bad a teacher you are, everyone gets the promotion.

No penalty for being a bad teacher.
No reward for being a good teacher.

No incentive to be a good teacher.

Encourages activity to only the minimums required.

Can=t easily be fired.

Teaching is one of the most stable and unaccountable professions around.

Dr. Allen thinks that is wrong and he resents it.

Lesson Element .2: ATesting and Accountability@

Post-Hoc Documentation is the Norm Today.

We don=t find out if people were successful or fail until after everything done.

We don=t know how well kids learned things until after the final examination and they are gone.

Doesn=t allow us to recover material that they didn=t get.

Dr. Allen believes that the final examination should come 3 weeks before the end of the term.

Gives you another shot at recovering material the students were weak in before they leave.

Test Scores and Standards are Confusing Because They May Not Be Relevant.

The score doesn=t necessarily reflect the standard of your education.

May be many relevant reasons why you didn=t do well.
Likewise, people who cheat and get a high score, the score doesn=t reflect what they know, just how they took the test.

Students Should Decide What Kind of Grades They Want to Get- What=s Important to Them.

Some students tend to strive to high. The grade, not the material, becomes the focus of their effort.

Example: Student of Dr. Allen who never was comfortable earning anything less than an AA@. Couldn=t loosen up.

Students sometimes don=t know when they are winning.

Example: Women at Stanford U, who was sure she was failing but then always got AA=s@.
However, although she graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors, she never made her life work. She never had the confidence to know when she had won.

The students may not be able to correctly estimate how well they are doing.

Don=t confuse test scores or grades with high standards.

A AB@ student with a successful and balanced life is preferable to the neurotic AA@ student.

If a student is surprised by the grade they receive, something is wrong.

Either the teacher isn=t clearly stating expectations, or the student=s perspective is skewed. They don=t know how hard to work or what=s been learned.

Teachers need to spend more time helping students become comfortable and be able to discern what they need to know.

Dr. Allen does this in this class through sample quizzes, interactive questions, a detailed syllabus, and clear requirements. These are very important.

Don=t Confuse Test Frequency with Standards.

We currently test too much. We confuse testing with standards.

Excess testing is a waste of time. You want to have a minimum number of tests with a maximum of feedback.

Dr. Allen holds that the fewer the test given, the better. So long as those tests give him feedback to know how well the students are doing, he can give the students feedback on how well they are doing.

Too often, tests are the only feedback the student has! The teacher, not the number of tests should give the students the feedback on how well they are doing.

Lesson Element .3: ATeacher Judgement@

Unfortunately, We Often Use Testing to Make Professional Judgement Unnecessary.

Many teachers tend to avoid judgements because they have to defend their judgements.

By relying on a strict numerical grading scheme, they avoid having to defend their grading decisions.

If you have a formula, it=s much easier to defend than when you make a judgement.

Education is all about Judgements.

When you make a judgement, some risk is involved.

You win some, you lose some.

Example: If you catch a student cheating to get an AA,@ what do you do?

The traditional approach is to give them a zero and make a big deal out of their cheating. Essentially you are branding them as criminal in a public forum.
Doesn=t do much for building the student=s self-esteem or confidence.

Another, possibly more effective approach, Dr. Allen did this:

Let the AA@ stand. But let the student know in private that you know they cheated.
They may be so embarrassed that they won=t cheat again.
Allows them to save face. Won=t always work, but better than the previous method.

Grades Are a Predictor of Future Success, Not a Measure of What You Know.

Grades should be taken as an indicator of effort shown, which can be translated into a prediction of future success.

Too often we fail to recognize the pattern of student effort, focusing on a strict numerical average of grades.

Example: Two students taking the same course:

The first student received test grades of A, B, and C in that sequence, over the course of the semester.
The second student received test grades of C, B, A in that sequence, over the course of the semester.
What grade should each student receive for the semester?
Most people using a strict numerical averaging formula would say that both should receive a AB@ for the semester.

Dr. Allen argues that the first student should receive at best a C+, or maybe even a AC@. This properly reflects the downward trend and is a more accurate predictor of future success.

The second student should receive either an AA@ or an AA-A. This is because the trend shows the student is trying hard to improve.

If you gave both of the students AB=s,@ then you have disguised the fact that one is improving their performance and the other is showing a decline in performance. In other words, the prediction for future success is rosy for one student and poor for the other.

Accept the responsibility to make professional judgements. Don=t just rely on testing. Your judgement will give the student the most effective feedback.

Be Prepared to Defend Your Professional Judgement.

Some parents will object to your decisions if you don=t rely on numerical formulas.

Clearly explain that the grades reflect predictions of success. The trend, not the average of the grades is the most important predictor.

Defending your professional judgement is part of your responsibility as a teacher.

Some school administrations may not allow you the latitude in judgement. They may insist on a numerical average. This allows them to avoid controversy.

If your school insists on that path you have two options: move to another school that allows for professional judgement, or follow the school=s rules.

However, before you leave the school, consider that there are other ways to exercise your judgement.

You can weigh some tests more heavily than others.

You can defend this easily.

A key thing: be able to explain your reasoning to the parents.

You are concerned that their child is showing a downward trend.
You will be happy to turn the grade around if the trend is reversed.

Your decisions must be overt, not covert. Don=t do anything under the table.

Some people may argue that the downward trend is caused by outside events and that your assigned grade doesn=t reflect past performance.

Its likely that the downward trend is the result of outside events.
However, if you as a teacher can do something about them, fine. Regardless of whether you can help or not, the grade should stand.
The fact that outside events are causing the decreased performance doesn=t negate the fact that the most accurate predictor of the future success is the grade that you have assigned.

It makes no sense to bump up the grade because the kid is having trouble. It disguises the extent of the trouble.

Example: See the link to AThe Story of Kurt.@

Lesson Element .4: AGrading and Accountability@

Grades Are Predictors of Future Performance, Not Measures of Achievement.

Teachers often get confused thinking, they believe they are giving grades because of what the kid achieved, rather than giving grades because this the predictor of future success.

Be Aware That Even When Used as Predictors, Grades Are Not Very Accurate.

The national SAT tests only are accurate as predictors of future success around 40% of the time.

This has been correlated through many statistical studies.

Grade Point Averages can be expected to be similarly accurate. Only 40%.

No college admissions formula has ever been able to do much better than a 40% predictor.

The Bottom Line is: Grades and Performance Have a Poor Correlation Ratio.

Lesson Element .5: ARemediation and Accountability@

The Current Schedule Doesn=t Give the Teacher Time or Resources to Provide Remediation.

Secondary teachers have a class full of student to deal with, an hour a day, five days a week for a semester.

Ideally, our instructional patterns should provide flexible remedial time for additional work with individuals and groups of students when the need is identified.

Providing Remediation is Part of Accountability. At Present, Remediation Patterns are Woefully Inadequate.

A student that fails an entire semester or year has to repeat the whole thing.

They may or may not do better in the second time around.
They may remember things from the beginning of the last class, get an AA@, and get bored.
If they get bored, they may not focus well on the things that they didn=t get right the last time. So they get a AD@ in the second half.

Yet with numerical scoring, we may pass them on as having mastered the subject with a AC.@ They haven=t really, but the numbers make it look that way.

The Lack of Timely Remediation Causes Us to Promote Students Even When We Know That They Won=t Do Well in the Future Classes.

If a student gets an AA@ or a AB,@ we can generally predict that they will do well in the following classes which build upon the skills learned.

If a student gets a AC,@ there are usually too many holes in their knowledge base, and we can predict that they will do poorly in future classes which require the skills.

Dr. Allen argues that it would be better to provide remediation until the student achieves at least a AB@ level of performance, before allowing the student to move on to the future classes.

Our Current Pattern of Remediation - All or None- Isn=t Working. The Educational System Does Not Accept Responsibility or Accountability.

We tend to blame the student for not learning properly.

The issue is not the grade. The issue is the prediction of success or failure in the future.

It isn=t accountable to put a student into an educational experience for which we don=t predict success. Likewise, it isn=t accountable to put teachers and students into class schedules which we know won=t produce satisfactory learning for all.

Lesson Element .6: AEfficiency and Effectiveness@

No Community Has the Right to a Bad Education, It=s Neither Efficient or Effective.

Dr. Allen=s viewpoint: Bad Education causes consequences for all concerned.

It overloads the good schools and causes the bad school to stay bad.
The tax base is the issue for retirement communities and DINKS.
Short-sighted because poorly educated students don=t do well in society.

Mobility is one of the biggest reasons why no community has a right to bad education.

If a student moves into a community school, the school gets the praise or the blame for the student=s performance.
Yet the community only educated them for a portion of the entire education.

Many People Believe You Can Be Efficient Without Being Effective. This is a Wrong Concept.

You have to be effective first before you can be efficient.

Efficiency is a subset within effectiveness.

You can be effective without being efficient, but if you are efficient, you are already being effective.

Example: Large Group Instruction.

Some people think that large group instruction is efficient but not effective.
Wrong. It is efficient at teaching large groups, and also effective at teaching in large groups.
Large group instruction may however, not be effective in terms of what people learn. By extension it then is not efficient in what they learn either.

The confusion comes from a change in reference points. Efficiency and Effectiveness exist in the same, not separate dimensions.

Being effective is the prerequisite to being efficient.

As a Teacher, You Should Want Your Students to be Efficient in their Learning as Well as Effective.

Dr. Allen argues that to achieve this, you should want them to learn as easily as possible.

Accountability should be for efficiency as well as for effectiveness.

If you want your students to be efficient, then you should want them to study the least amount. Get an AA@ is they can do so reasonably, otherwise let them get a AB.@

The AA@ may make them feel empowered, but if it is achieved only through a painful process, why not let them do AB@ work and feel comfortable with their decision.

What price glory? Not everyone is an AA@ student. Why is that the standard we try to force everyone to achieve?

Summary of Accountability.

Professionalism in terms of grading practices, professionalism in terms of decision making, accepting responsibility for the grades that you give, and the procedures you come up with.

Professional accountability is what is needed and what is currently lacking.

Lesson Element .7: AStudent Empowerment@

Try to Empower the Students You Work With. Help to Make Them Feel in Charge of Their Lives.

If they are empowered, it is much more important than the kind of grade point average they get.

Empowered students use the learning they=ve had much more effectively than students who aren=t empowered.

The un-empowered students end up waiting for somebody else to tell them what to do with the knowledge gained.

A Major Strength of the American System is that We Create Creative People.

Somehow we manage to do this even with the flaws in our system and with less rigorous standards compared to other countries educational systems.

Example: The Japanese system tends to create people who are imitators, not creators.

Japan has half our population and is highly industrialized.

However, in their entire history, they have only won two Nobel Prizes.

Their emphasis is on repetitive behavior.

Their system does not encourage people to take responsibility for their own lives or to be creative.

Americans win more Nobel Prizes disproportionate to our population. More than any other nation on Earth.

We are caught in a paradox. We still put high value on getting straight AA=s,@ but at the same time our success ultimately comes from not being able to achieve that.

We end up organizing ourselves creatively and differently from our stated goals.

Children should be able to be children.

In China, parents force their children to spend all of their time studying.
In America, parents may want to have that kind of rigor, but fortunately for everyone, we don=t enforce that wish. We allow kids time to play.
It is fortunate that we do allow ample play time. Without it we wouldn=t produce the creative students that we do.

We should be a bit more straight-forward and help people understand exactly what they are working for and why they are working for it.

Lack of accountability is one of the real barriers to American education.