Disclaimer to all administrators past, present, and future: I am sure you are all wonderful people. Work hard, care about students. Just wonderful. Smiley folks. Perhaps even a bit jollier than the average person. Smarter, too, I reckon. However, a colleague of mine just started his administration program and I have to admit, I felt a bit of sadness.
Category Archives: Education
Merit Pay, Anyone?
By Tom
This month we’ve heard both presidential candidates address education. Nothing too surprising was said: Obama’s in favor of parents getting more involved in their children’s schools but against vouchers. McCain’s in favor of vouchers but against teacher unions. However, there was one issue that both candidates seemed to agree on, at least in principle: merit pay.
The idea of merit pay has been batted around ever since I can remember. It sounds like a great idea. A win-win. Good teachers get more money while the students get a better education. Competition leads to better products and lower prices in the retail industry, right? Athletes thrive when they compete, don’t they? It sounds like a simple solution to a very complicated problem.
Which is exactly why it won’t work, at least the way most people envision it.
Ikea Schools?
By Richelle
While reading a recent copy of the Economist, I stumbled onto an article that caught my attention – “A Swedish Model: A Swedish firm has worked out how to make money running free schools.” Hmm–making money running “publicly funded” schools? I had to read more as I wondered about the quality and support for such a model.
Clean Out Your Teaching!
I read a book recently that dealt with Lean Production, a Toyota Production System, where one of the goals is to take useless or wasted items out of the manufacturing system. The Japanese have a term for that cluttered refrigerator and the teaching for which the metaphor stands. Muda (無駄) is the Japanese term for any activity that is wasteful and does not add any value to what you are doing. I encourage you to use this summer and take out the muda in your teaching.