Who Would You Ask?
Last week, a well-prepared team of educational professionals from the Schlechty Center gave an engaging, informative and well-organized presentation about the need for change in schools. You may say, “So … what else is new?” After all, for those of us who have dedicated our lives and spirits to this vocation, we have accepted that everyone from researchers to parents to bureaucrats to politicians has a better idea about the way schools should operate.
As teachers, we inherently want our school and our classroom to be the very best around or, as a minimum, to be among the best. There is something about the overachieving nature of teachers that drives the need for excellence in us. It is that same need that inspires teachers to help the children with whom we are entrusted to also achieve the very best they can. But what is the true the measure of our success? Is it our knowledge? Is it our planning? Is it our performance? Is it how well we set up our classrooms?
Ultimately, there is only one measure of our success … the performance of our students. A sales manager in the business world is judged by the achievement of sales objectives by each sales rep. The coach of a sports team is judged by the performance and contributions of each player. Leaders are judged by the work of the people that they lead. If we accept that teachers are leaders of students and designers of the work that students do, then we can gain some perspective and guidance from the theories of Phillip Schlechty. Schlechty believes that the major need for change in schools surrounds the quality and type of work that is assigned to students (see Working on the Work by Schlechty). Schlechty asserts that:
