Let's Talk Education

Fundamental Attribution Error & Improving Education

2011-10-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

The following Blog was written by Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass

One of the more common and vexing problems of human behavior is that we tend to point the finger of blame toward an individual person or group when something goes wrong, an outcome isn't achieved, or behavior isn't exactly what we'd like it to be.

It's their "fault," or "someone didn't do their job," or "someone has to be held accountable." More often than not, the issue isn't with an individual person or group of people. More frequently, the real issue is with the systems or conditions in which people are working or living.

Social psychologists call this effect "fundamental attribution error," or more simply the tendency we have to blame people for systems issues.

Teachers get this all the time, and both the "blame teachers" movement and the counter-reaction against it are real life examples of fundamental attribution error gone off the deep end. Sure, there are ineffective educators - everyone knows this and probably has even had a few. But more often than not, it's not the teacher that is failing, it's the system the teacher is in.

We do the same thing with administrators. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've heard "if principals would just do their jobs." This comes up a lot in matters related to evaluation. The logic is that if principals would just do their jobs related to evaluation, we wouldn't have an ineffective educator problem and would be able to remove those that aren't effective.

But the principals, more often than not, don't do their jobs when it comes to evaluation. Frequently when they do, it's a drive-by assessment with little meaningful feedback or improvement. But is it really the principal, or is it the system we've put this person in?

And we do have ineffective educators - many of whom have the potential to get better and maybe even become great teachers. But they work in substandard conditions and have no real support systems about what "better" even looks like or how they might get there.

Our answer lies less in individual accountability, though that is important, and more in better systems.

The next time you hear someone make the fundamental attribution error, call it out. Our thinking has to change.

Jason Glass
Des Moines, IA

The Fall Season Winding Down

2011-10-31T05:18:00.000-07:00

Incredible to believe that today is the last day of October! I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the fall athletes at Turkey Valley and South Winneshiek. What a difference the beginning of a school year makes when the community and school are excited about the successes that are taking place. The coaches, athletes, parents, teachers, administration, and fans all need to be congratulated on the hard work and dedication that it takes to make programs at the high school level ones to be proud of! Again, congratulations to everyone. Lets take the momentum of fall and carry it into the winter season!

Education reform plan will call for exit exams, teacher pay tiers

2011-09-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Since taking office as the new Director of Education in our state, Jason Glass, has unveiled a framework for overhauling the state's educational system. If you have not had an opportunity to read about it please do so and let me know your thoughts. The following excerpts were taken from the Des Moines Register.

Iowa education leaders Tuesday unveiled a framework for overhauling the state’s education system that includes implementing high school exit exams, doing away with a century-old teacher pay system and expanding charter schools.

Also included is the development of assessments that measure whether students have mastered specific subjects and the creation of an innovation fund to provide districts with the money to try new things in the classroom. Additionally, Iowa would require ninth-graders to take an international academic exam every three years and require 11th-graders to take the ACT college entrance exam.

“The competition is now worldwide,” said Jason Glass, Iowa Department of Education director. “We have to up our game. Shouldn’t schools in Iowa be among the highest performing in the world? The only morally acceptable answer to that is ‘yes.’

“When you are looking at reform on this scale, yes, things go wrong. We are going to make mistakes, but it will be incumbent upon Iowa and the people here to learn, adapt and get better,” he added.
Glass and Linda Fandel, Gov. Terry Branstad’s special assistant for education, offered the first glimpse into Branstad’s blueprint for reform, which will be unveiled Oct. 3. Officials, until now, have said only that their efforts would focus on three areas: setting clear and rigorous standards with fair measures for results, improving principal and teacher effectiveness, and increasing innovation in the classroom.
Specifically, the plans include:

Doing away with the current teacher pay system that bases salaries on experience and college credits earned. Instead, the state would adopt a four-tiered system that would include apprentice, career, mentor and master teachers. Starting salaries for apprentice teachers would be around $40,000. Teachers would receive large bumps in pay each time they advanced to a different tier, with the maximum earnings around $80,000, Glass said. The state would grandfather in the system and allow veteran teachers to decide whether they want to opt in.

Changing teacher tenure to make it easier for districts to get rid of ineffective teachers. Officials also want to do away with “last in, first out” procedures, based solely on laying off teachers with the least amount of seniority. Instead, district officials when considering layoffs would recognize teacher credentials and the needs of individual schools.

Continuing to refine the Iowa Core, which outlines expectations for what students should know at each grade level. Officials would develop a test that better reflects whether students are meeting those expectations.

Expanding the presence of charter schools. Officials continue to explore whether to allow private companies to run the charters. Operators would have to demonstrate a need for the school and its feasibility, Glass said. If they failed to meet state expectations, they would be closed.

Requiring all 11th- graders to take the ACT college entrance exam. Also, students would have to take a high school exit exam. It has not been determined whether students would have to pass it in order to graduate, Glass said. Schools would start giving the exam to 10th-graders in hopes of catching those who are struggling early and providing them with extra help before they graduate, he said.

Attitudes Are Contagious....Is Yours Worth Catching?

2011-08-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Year after year as a teacher I hung a banner in my classroom (the title of this blog) and actually spent time with students talking about what it meant. One thing I really stressed to my students was how this was true not only for them, but for me as well. I expected them to let me know if I was not holding up on my end of the "attitude" bargain. Believe me they did. Allowing students to hold me accountable for my actions in the classroom helped me to build a rapport with them that was irreplaceable. They knew that I was not going to be one of those "Do as I say not as I do" type people. It also showed them that "Wow, Mr. Hoover expects the same out of us as students as we expect out of him as a teacher."

Now, in my roll as superintendent, I want to continue with the contagious attitude. I want to be respectful in all situations, upbeat, and make school a fun place to be for everyone! I also want staff and students to hold me accountable when my attitude seems to be one of negativity. (which better be never :-)

So, take some time to reflect. Reflect on your attitude and what it is portraying. Reflect on the kind of attitude you expect your students to have in and out of the classroom. Are they contagious attitudes? If so, lets all catch it!

Do You Have Children of Your Own?

2011-08-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

This was an all too familiar phrase that I heard my first 6 years of teaching. In the back of my mind I was always saying, "What in the heck does that have to do with the behavior of your son/daughter in my class?" I often took offense to this comment and, at times, would reply with, "No I don't and I don't need to have any to understand what is best for this student in my class." A rather harsh response to what I thought was an asinine question at the time. As my teaching career progressed, and I finally did have a child, I began to understand what these parents were trying to tell me. Situations and circumstances all have a different take to them when you've had your own children. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not at all saying that you can't be an outstanding teacher, or understand how kids operate within the framework of the classroom, if you don't have your own children. I will never say that. I know many outstanding teachers who do not have their own children. I am just saying that you tend to see things in a different light, and even possibly through the eyes of your own child, when situations arise with students in the classroom. This is true not only for behavior issues but also academic issues.

The last seven years of my educational career I have been blessed to be a father. Now that Keelan is two years into his education I have really started to understand all the things I was missing in my classroom, as a teacher, before he was born. His existence has given me a deeper appreciation for what all of us in education try to do on a daily basis. It has given me more patience and understanding for angry/confused/questioning parents. It has also given me a burning passion to help anyone and everyone in the field of education become the best that they possibly can be. Not just for my child, but for ALL the children.

Transforming Education: Why and How You Should Take It Personally

2011-08-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to the differentiated instruction blog I thought some ideas on personalized learning fit nicely. Sir Ken Robinson, one of the most popular speakers in B.C. education circles brings a message about personalized learning.

"Personalized learning, to me," states Robinson, "is the process of contouring learning to the individuals that you’re dealing with, recognizing that we all have different strengths and weaknesses, different interests [and] different ways of learning. It isn’t that everyone has to learn different things, although eventually our interests will take us in different directions. But in terms of the things we want all people to learn ... personalized learning is finding the best ways to engage with people with different interests, passions and ways of thinking.”

I think that word "passion" is an extremely important word. Finding a student's passion and engaging them in that, within the classroom, will reap enormous benefits. As a teacher I would allow my students to create their own end-of-unit "assessment", if you will, to show me what they had learned. This assessment was more of a culminating project but the students got to choose what they wanted to do. They were able to personalize it through video, power point, drawing, Garage Band, iMovie, or whatever tripped their trigger. This instilled excitement into them as they looked forward to the end of next unit when they could show me what they had learned. Sir Robinson sums it up when he states, "It’s what good teachers have always known, he added. “That their job is not to teach subjects, but to teach students.”

If We Teach To the Middle, They Are Missing Out

2011-08-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Differentiated instruction isn't a newly coined phrase or instructional strategy. Yet, at times, we as educators act as if it is some alien from outer space (non-existent). As a classroom teacher I had difficulty with this concept myself. I wasn't quite sure how to engage students who were anywhere from one to four grade levels apart in reading, math, and science. There was no way I could possibly do my regular lesson plans, coach 4 sports, belong to the curriculum and technology committees, teach 6 classes a day, and still have time to "make up" more "stuff" for the students who weren't in the middle. Thank goodness I had a colleague who was able to show me the light.

Differentiated instruction, much like integrating technology, is all about enhancing what you already do. Not about adding more "stuff". It's all about using instructional strategies and techniques that cover the entire gammet of students that I have and not just the "middle" kids. It's about giving students choices in their learning. It's about collaboration with colleagues, team teaching, and making connections across the curriculum. Finally, it's about me, as a teacher, understanding where all my students are academically, at any given time, and meeting them at that place with my instruction. Now don't get me wrong, this wasn't an easy task. It took a lot of learning, collaboration, and trial and error on my part. But I knew it was needed. Because if I didn't, the students truly were missing out.

Computers: An Expensive Paperweight?

2011-08-22T07:06:00.001-07:00

Many schools in Iowa, and across the nation, have made the much needed leap into the 21st Century of Digital Technology. For almost 100 schools in the state this has equated to some kind of 1:1 computer initiative. However, simply putting a computer in the hands of every student is not enough. Teachers need the training, coaching, and support to sustain the initiative for the long haul. More importantly, teachers need to implement what is learned within the classroom on a consistent basis. This will require hard work, trial/error, and perseverance. Not to mention a willingness to allow students the opportunity to teach us how things are done. As educators we cannot continue to keep doing what we have always done and expect different results (I believe someone, somewhere coined that as the definition of insanity). Not only is it insane, but if we continue with the status quo, our taxpayers will question the need for those very expensive paperweights that we bought for all the kids.