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The Business of Education
by Lucy Dunn, President and CEO |
Aug 27, 2009
Comments: 10 |
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Imagine you own a company that is paid by the state for widgets you produce. All your workers are required to pay dues to a union that protects them from being fired, regardless of the quality of their work or the number of widgets they produce. You do not track worker performance anyway, because state law prohibits it. You track the quality of widgets (which are not very good, by the way) but not the quality of performance of the workers making the widgets. Other companies who need your widgets won't buy them from you because of the poor quality (nor will they re-tool them at their own expense to make them work). In fact, 50% of your widgets don't work at all. Bad workers, bad widgets, bad company, means wasted state money, right? The business community would never stand for this scenario because the marketplace would see this business fail. So it is no surprise, if this “business” were education, the "workers" were teachers and the "widgets" were students, that this same model should also fail?
Interestingly, it is the Obama administration that has decided to stand up to the status quo—i.e. the failed education system. President Obama specifically pointed to California as a problem state where unions block the linkage of student achievement and teacher performance data. The President said, "Any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluation will have to change its ways if it wants to compete for a grant." In other words, if California wants federal “Race to the Top” dollars to back fill the devastating education cuts recently made, the “firewall” must come down. And rightfully so—demanding a way to measure success is not unreasonable.
Every business must set benchmarks and track progress to be successful. Teachers should follow suit—even they know who the bad teachers are! And a 50% high school drop-out rate reported in some California school districts—like a 50% bad widget production—is unacceptable.
Governor Schwarzenegger is going after federal funding for education by calling a special legislative session to address education reform so that California can qualify for those much-needed “Race to the Top” dollars. We support his efforts and, even more importantly, we support the benchmarks and tracking methods needed to assure success for our children.
We are all shareholders of a failing company—the business of education. By demanding accountability and performance results, we ensure our children achieve academically to work and compete in a global economy. That’s a successful business with dividends.
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| Well stated Lucy |
Oct 29, 2009
User: Norm Westwell |
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Its interesting how the CTA whines on and on how teachers cannot be evaluated for merit pay based on student achievement but are miraculously able to select great educators to win the "Teacher of the Year" awards! Good teachers should be paid well. Bad teachers should be shown the door. What is required to fix our education problem in Kalifornia is a separation of school and state. That government is best which governs least. - Thomas Paine We need more leaders who represent taxpayers instead of big government. ===================================== Norm Westwell President - Ocean View School District
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| Why be normal? |
Sep 29, 2009
User: Rational realist |
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I like how those who oppose change to the status quo want to deflect practical solutions to problems by claiming that what they do is so special and so unique that the the rules of the real world do not apply. It is high time to start bringing world class solutions to our educational system. Look to the Toyota production system, six sigma and other world class training. The didn't train widgets, they train people.... and oh my God....It works! Nice job Lucy, but I have to agree with some of the others. Throwing more money in to this pit is not going to change a thing. We need new people, ideas and energy. If the current team can't hack it, its time to change the players.
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| But these aren't widgets, they're people |
Aug 31, 2009
User: Howard be my name |
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The problem with your analogy is that we're not talking about widgets, we're talking about people. And people are not the same when they arrive at the school doorstep. Some have severe problems. To expect every teacher to cause every student to turn out the same is unrealistic. I'm not a fan of many aspects of the contracts unionized teachers have, and I agree that many reforms are needed in the public education system. But to imply that poor student performance or dropout rate is solely the fault of teachers doesn't make sense. How many employers ask to see a prospective employee's high school transcripts? Very few. And students know this -- students who aren't going to college know that as long as they pass their high school classes and graduate they've fulfilled everything an employer will care about. When our employers start caring about how their employees performed in high school, students will start caring too.
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| Response to above comments |
Aug 31, 2009
User: Lucy Dunn |
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Dear Howard, Thanks for your comment. You’re absolutely right - children are not widgets. But I will take exception to your post that employers don’t care about high school transcripts. They very much care. Not only do employers want high school grads, they want college grads, yet a 50% high school drop out rate won’t get employers the talent they need. Study after study shows that the more education, the more likely a higher paycheck. In a high cost county like Orange County, we need our children to go as far as they can. Teacher performance isn’t the only indicator we need to measure, that’s for sure. Parents are just as important, as is business community support for schools, and it takes an alignment of all them for our children to get the most out of education. Lucy
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| The Business of Education |
Aug 27, 2009
User: Carol McDermott |
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Lucy: this was so well written, it needs to be picked up by the national press. Congrats on a beautifully written statement on this very important topic. cmmc
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| Good analogy, but ... |
Aug 27, 2009
User: Bill Quinnan |
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While I am all for holding teachers to standards, I don't believe the problem can be helped by throwing yet more federal funds at the schools. The studies I've seen indicate little correlation between per capita spending on schools and results. What smart investors should do is model their approach after producers who seem to get the most value for their dollars. Which countries and states score the highest on standardized tests? Are some states or nations able to produce top-performing students for substantially less money than we are spending? (The answer is yes, by the way.) If so, what is their strategy, and how is it different from ours? How can we go about applying their strategy within our own state? Smart investors don't simply promise bonuses for meeting minimum standards. They look for more efficient ways to achieve top results.
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| The |
Aug 27, 2009
User: Les Card |
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The Business of Education got another boost yesterday with the LA Board of Education approving a measure permitting private operators to submit plans to run 250 new or existing poor performing schools. This school administration process will address the problems of the ficticious widget company Let's hope that this concept is duplicated throughout the state.
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| Follow the Money |
Aug 27, 2009
User: Art Brown |
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Lucy. Excellent!!! When I was on the school board 20 years ago the COLA given by the state was given to the teachers as an annual pay raise. COLA 4%, teachers $5. No funds for improvements in text books, programs, etc. I didn't have the guts to buck the system and I have not seen a move in other school boards to change it. Same old bad teachers at a higher rate of pay.
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| A Bit Late in Coming |
Aug 27, 2009
User: MIke Beard |
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I know these statements have been made at least ten years ago. I would like to see this driven farther then just a letter on this web site and newsletter. Or will it just die by the end of this year? Our school system (even to some extent our community college system) is based on 1940-1950 mentality and learning approaches. Our Challenge - I will wait to see how far you take this and make it into a Six-Sigma/Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) approach toward learning. Good luck.
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| Aren't your boots clean! |
Aug 27, 2009
User: Richard Moore |
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I wonder what it would take for you to come up with real analogies. Interesting to see you kowtowing to Obama's federal demands for the opportunity to mandate rules for California schools. My, haven't "conservatives" come a long way. And widjets -- your idea of educated students -- all identical, passing the same bubble test nationwide. Sad lady.
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