Posts Tagged Accountability

Teaching Is an Art

On March 10, 2013 / Articles

Teaching is an art, not a science.

There are many things in life that everyone knows exists but that cannot be quantified. Love and friendship are but two simple examples.

• “Bureaucratic solutions to problems of practice will always fail because effective teaching is not routine, students are not passive, and questions of practice are not simple, predictable, or standardized.” —Linda Darling-Hammond from her award winning book, The Right to Learn

• W. Edwards Deming, the guru of quality, said, “What is most important cannot be measured. The variables are too great.”

Educational theorists have attempted to bring the educational profession to the same status as professionals in the physical and biological sciences. This is exemplified by using the same … >>>

Accountability in Schools and Dentists

On February 11, 2012 / Articles

My dentist is better than your dentist, and I can prove it!

In a seminar in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I made the statement that educational leaders have given up their leadership—that they have taken the politicians and business leaders’ approaches of accountability and competition as the models for learning. I should not have been shocked at the resounding applause I received from the 95 educators in the audience.

As I point out in the Epilogue of my book, both accountability as it is now used in high stakes testing—and competition—are counterproductive for learning. I quote the comic book character, Dagwood Bumstead, who said, “You know that makes a lot of sense if you don’t think about it.”

There is … >>>