Merit Pay Doesn't Work: Stop It

Michigan's Legislature, under the influence of Michelle Rhee, the former Chancellor of the Washington, DC Schools, and Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, is considering requiring school districts in Michigan to institute merit pay systems. Here are the four reasons that this is ineffectual and a bad idea:

1. Research on motivation clearly shows that merit pay does not work in schools: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-02-15/lifestyle/35445815_1_teacher-merit-certificate-researchers, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

2. Merit pay, by its nature, suggests that it is okay for school districts to employ bad teachers. This is not okay. Bad teachers harm children. Our children deserve the very best, which is an excellent teacher in every classroom, without exception. Implementing an unfounded system will not allow this to happen.

3. Michigan's government has decided to withhold and divert funding from its public schools. A merit pay system would thus require schools to use existing, inadequate funds to pay stipends to teachers. This means that school districts would have to cut programs, lay off staff, increase class sizes, and reduce the overall quality of schooling. As with the EAA, charter schools, and virtual schools, it is unacceptable for Michigan's government to decrease the quality of education for all students by incentivizing funding for experimental and pet projects. Until Michigan can properly fund an excellent education for every child in every school, it should not experiment with unfounded incentive systems. Another unfunded mandate will not move Michigan forward.

4. The highest achieving countries do not utilize merit pay systems. Instead, they work systemically, through ongoing professional learning, excellent teacher preparation, respect for the teaching profession, attracting the highest achieving students into the profession, allowing teachers make curricular decisions, not focusing solely on test scores, providing equitable funding for all schools, and paying teachers on a similar level with other professions.

We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted again from excellence by politically motivated people or ideas. Michelle Rhee and Jeb Bush should not dictate educational policy in Michigan. Instead, Michigan should focus on what works in schools based upon research. We must ensure that every child in ever community across Michigan is engaged deeply every day with an excellent teacher. We must realize that excellent public schools go hand-in-glove with excellent communities. Implementing non-researched incentive systems and policies is not the means to the ends we desire for our children.

Stop the nonsense, please.

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April 2013 Superintendent's Column

April 2013 Superintendent’s Column

Happy spring!

As our students, their families, and our staff enjoy spring break, the Clarkston Community Schools celebrates the accomplishments achieved throughout the year. Here are just a few examples.

Since Clarkston hosted over 800 educators from around the world at our Project Zero Perspective Conference in November, our principals, teachers, students, and central office staff have continued to work together to make students’ thinking visible. This involves book studies, professional development sessions with Ron Ritchhart of Harvard, parent nights, and community visits to classrooms. Recently, Pine Knob, Springfield Plains, Sashabaw Middle, and Clarkston High hosted these visits. On April 22 from 12:00 to 2:00, Clarkston Junior High School will host a visit. We hope that you will consider attending to see the great learning that is happening in our schools.

Each of our elementary schools has implemented comprehensive literacy plans to support students’ learning. Teachers have engaged in professional development, visited other schools, and looked together at assessment data. We believe that a strong literacy base is essential for every child, and we are working hard to to achieve this.

Last week, the board of education completed the process of refinancing community bonds. These efforts mean a savings of over $15 million for taxpayers. Our partners in this accomplishment included State Representative Eileen Kowall, whom we thank for her assistance.

Our athletes, musicians, mock trial team, Team RUSH, DECA, and many other individuals/groups have achieved league, district, regional, state, and national recognition. Congratulations to our coaches, sponsors, parents, and students for their hard work and achievements.

Under the leadership of Kevin Bickerstaff, CCS’s transportation department safely transports over 5,500 students each day. Recently, Lorri Kaczor, a CCS bus driver, was selected to receive the 2013 Oakland County Excellence in Transportation Award.  We congratulate Lorri, and the transportation team, on her receipt of this outstanding achievement.

We also celebrate our parents and community who give so much to our students. From school fairs to concerts and athletic events to spring clean ups; from PTA and PTO service to hosting interns, we wish to thank everyone who contributes to making our school system great.

Our board of education recently achieved the Michigan Association of School Boards’ Standard for Excellence and Honor Board Awards. This means that each board member has completed certification training. It takes a great deal of time and commitment to achieve these distinctions. We are grateful to our board members for their service to the students, staff, and community.

I look forward to many more celebrations throughout the remainder of the school year.

I wish everyone a wonderful spring break. I pray for the safety of each of our students, their families, CCS staff, and our community members.

Rod Rock, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

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Response to MEAP Results

Here is my response to the recent release of MEAP tests in the state of Michigan.

Continuous improvement is the business of our business. Every day, our teachers use data to inform their decision making. Part of this ongoing process are MEAP test results, which the state provides in February (students in grades 3-9 takes these tests in October) . Just as we do every day, our administrators and teachers examine multiple assessments (e.g., observations, grades, tests, performances, homework, discussions, quizzes). We continuously review our curricula and instruction in comparison to these data. We make adjustments according to our ongoing needs. This is a process that occurs every day in every one of our schools and not just in February when we receive MEAP results. These are the processes of highly effective schools.

As the community is aware, Michigan, along with 46 other states, will soon discontinue the use of the MEAP (or whatever standardized test each state uses) and begin instead using the Smarter Balanced Assessment, which is based upon the Common Core Curriculum. These assessments will ask our students to demonstrate higher order thinking skills (examples at http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.org/itempreview/sbac/index.htm). The reason for the change in assessment is that we, as an educational community and based upon research, know that knowledge (as demonstrated on the MEAP or other multiple-choice/one-right-answer assessments) is only one essential skill necessary for success in our world. Other, equally important skills include: critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination (Wagner, 2010). These skills are not measured by the MEAP, and the Smarter Balanced Assessment will attempt to measure them.

Hence, the Clarkston Community Schools is focused upon preparing our students for the future, including success on the higher-order-thinking assessments. We are not focused on the past or on the MEAP.

Many educational experts and politicians in our world suggest that the achievement of our students is measured solely by standardized tests (such as the MEAP) and that educators should use these results to drive all decisions (including teacher evaluation, merit pay, school effectiveness, state funding, and principal effectiveness). Some people suggest that school districts should carefully scrutinize MEAP test results, identify students within each achievement category, and work diligently to move students from one category to another. Of course, we could do this, but why would we? Why would we focus solely on improving our students' test taking skills? Why would we give our students a test once each year, await the results for four to five months, and only then make adjustments to our teaching and curricula? Why would we focus on the past and not the present or the future? Why would we focus on a test that only measures knowledge and only at one point in time? These types of practices are a disservice to our students, teachers, staff, and community.

The essence of education and achievement is what kids can do with what they know. Achievement, among other things, is a result of what happens every day with every child in every classroom in every school. As Richard Elmore says, "From pre-K to high school, the make-or-break factor is the 'instructional core' — the skills of the teacher, the engagement of the students and the rigor of the curriculum. To succeed, students must become thinkers, not just test-takers." Certainly, we as educators would be negligent if we did not engage our students as thinkers every day and not just in response to annual test results from the state of Michigan.

So, the results that we've received from the state are the results. We will use these results--along with other measures--to examine our curriculum, adjust our instruction, and engage our students more deeply as thinkers and not just test takers. We won't use the results as a single picture of the ability of our students, our teachers, our principals, or our schools. We won't compare ourselves to other schools. We won't compare one student to another. We won't compare ourselves to the rest of the state. We will continue instead to use research to inform our practices, to support our students' learning every day, and to continuously enhance our students as thinkers, learners, and positive contributors to a global society.

If I, as the superintendent of schools, were to focus my attention on MEAP scores, I would be contradicting the messages I send to teachers and students each day about learning. I would be saying to them that, 'despite what we know and believe about teaching and learning, I want you to make sure that our students do better on the MEAP test.' I would be saying that, 'because these tests get lots of attention from the press and because the state might evaluate my effectiveness as a superintendent on these test results, it is important that our students do well and that our teachers focus on these tests.' In the process, our teachers would wonder why I constantly talk about thinking and learning and the development of the entire mind. They'd wonder why I am inconsistent and reactionary. Certainly, these are not the kind of messages I would want to send and not the kind of learning environment that I wish to foster and promote.

Instead, I want to focus on the culture of the classroom. The engagement of students. The capacity of our students to use what they know, and not just know it.

If we are going to become the best school district we can become; if we are going to ensure that our school district fully cultivates each student as a thinker, learner, and positive contributor to a global society, then we are going to have to stay the course of coherence. We are going to have to focus. We are going to have to overcome the pressures that come at us from outside entities. We are going to have to critically think and problem solve; collaborate across grade levels and buildings; with agility and adaptability manage assessment and instruction; practice initiative and entrepreneurialism; effectively communicate (both orally and in writing); access and analyze a variety of  information; and curiously and imaginatively learn, teach, and lead. We can't say one thing and do something else. We must stay the course of coherence.

This is exactly what we will do.

Thank you.

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Reform Lessons from Finland

From Sahlberg, P. (2010). Finnish Lessons: What the World Can Learn from Educational Change in Finland. New York: Teachers College Press.

"We should reconsider those education policies that advocate choice, competition, and privatization as the key drivers of sustained educational improvement. None of the best-performing education systems currently rely primarily on them. Indeed, the Finnish experience shows that a consistent focus on equality and shared responsibility--not choice and competition--can lead to an education system in which all children learn better than they did before. Hoping that the problem of inadequate education would be fixed by paying teachers based on their student's test scores or converting public schools into private ones through charters or other means is not included in the repertoire of educational improvement in Finland." (p. 134).

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Response to Unfounded, Nonsensical Educational Reform Agendas:

We must be the educational leaders, teachers, parents, researchers, students, and American citizens that swim against the currents of unfounded, nonsensical educational reforms (and the present wave of unfounded, nonsensical educational reform efforts won't be the last). We must set and stay a course of coherence. We must displace the comfortable, quick-fix, unquestioned reliance on compliance with the passionate, patient, persistent discomfort of transformational change--toward excellent public schools in every community for every child. Kids don't grow by happenstance--first their fingers, then their toes, then their elbows, then their brains. Growth, rather, is collective; whole. It is a minute, ubiquitous, simultaneous symbiosis. Just as a fetus develops in the womb--moment by moment, day by day, month by month until the right time--children's understandings evolve. Only in still pictures and hindsight is there a moment in time; a silver bullet; an obvious way forward. The development of the mind--of a person, of a citizen, of understanding--is an HD, 3D movie. It lives. We must move educational reform from reactionary political platforms and special interests to creating equal access to excellence through research, shared responsibility, and collective action. Excellence and equitable access. Altruism. Mother and child. Mind and environment. Child and society. Schools and communities. Interdependent. Interdependence. Interdependency. Symbiosis.

CCS is on the right path. We must stay the course.

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/21st-century-learning-is-not-a-program/

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-student-work-ron-berger

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/01/building-a-better-machine/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hseas-socialflow

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/08/my-commentary-on-the-pbs-rhee-special/

"While [examples from excellent, comprehensive educational systems in the highest performing countries] hold great promise, they call for patience. Reforming schools is a complex and slow process. To rush this process is to ruin it. The story of Finland's educational transformation makes this clear. Steps must be grounded in research and implemented in collaboration by academics, policy makers, principals, and teachers." 

(Sahlberg, P. 2010. Finish Lessons. Teachers College Press, New York. P. 3)

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November 12 Superintendent's Column

Please read my November 12 Column

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SC6LI32O0OWg8la5uIaCNeWgZYKgLieIcsx8O_hMruk/edit

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November Superintendent's Column

Please follow this link to my November 2012 Superintendent's Column:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pNqFnTqUpgAwIOecqMKso9hjWcbJyZxjJX4kJT6siUM/edit

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