Today was booth set up day at the National Charter School Conference. I found out about how the teamsters work, what it's like to manage multiple clients from 1,000 miles away, and where to shop for clothes in downtown Chicago when you forget something you needed.
It ended up being a whirlwind of a day--a day that started as a beautiful day with hopes of seeing a few sites. Peter's suits were not delivered by a major men's clothing store as promised and I forgot a pair of casual shoes, so we spent a couple of hours shopping. In the middle of all of it, I receive a phone call from a school needing advice.
Opening boxes to set up my booth, I noticed that two of the metal brackets for our literature had been bent. I'm not sure if it was UPS or the teamsters. Given that everything seemed to be intact when I picked up the boxes delivered by UPS, I'm guessing that a teamster managed to set something heavy and awkward on one of my boxes. A box that I could have moved into the exhibition floor by myself, all 200 feet from my car to my booth. Oh well, I guess rules are rules. Of course it also took three times as long because the people that I needed to talk to weren't at the desk, then I had to go fill out all of the proper paperwork so that I could have the boxes moved (and be billed for the service). I actually had to walk farther to get the paperwork filled out than I would have to get the boxes to my booth.
We filled the early afternoon with lunch at Giordano's Chicago style stuffed pizza. Nothing much to say there, other than that we over ate. Unless, you are a teenage boy, you really don't need an anti-pasto salad AND a medium stuffed pizza for two people--just a word to the wise.
The evening reception was nice. The terrace looking out over Lake Michigan was great. It was a perfect Chicago summer evening. I ran into a number of friends and acquaintances that I do business with. I met a couple of new acquaintances as well. Meeting Richard Marquez of Texas Can was a real treat. His vision for educating at-risk kids is inspiring. Dick Evans, a friend from Texas and the Summit Group, introduced me and we had a great conversation about the value of early college models.
I also got to see Robert Benavidez again. Robert and I met in Colorado back in February. He is working hard to advance the charter school coalition in New Mexico.
I also got a chance to visit with Peter Groff (Director, Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships) about his move from Colorado to Washington, DC. We miss former state Senator Groff as a real champion of charter schools in Colorado, but he seems happy with his move to DC.
I always enjoy talking with my friend Russ Caldwell, who works with D.A. Davidson putting together charter school financing. Russ is a long time supporter of charter schools as well as one of the best at getting bond financing approved for schools around the country.
Peter and I were a bit tired. Peter flew in from Anchorage and I had spent a few days with friends over the weekend. Thanks to my buddy Larry Overstreet of RMP (Resource Management Professionals) for giving me a ride to the conference center. Larry's help was invaluable today.
So, Tuesday is our session on teacher salaries. It's right after lunch, so I hope that our participants participate and don't fall asleep.
It's great to be here in the windy city.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Life Cycle Identification -- Your Charter School's Life May Depend on it
So, you are on the board of a charter school and the founding principal, who is loved by everyone suddenly quits. Everyone is shocked. Everyone except for the trusty business manager who was brought on board in year three because the school was struggling with policies and procedures and needed some stability for the future.
The business manager saw it because she often talked with the principal about key issues. She also was the only person in whom the principal could confide.
Founding board members who were still active struggled to "get it." Sure, everyone new that things were beginning to stabilize and were not as exciting as the wild west show that it used to be. People began assuming more segmented job descriptions. Procedure began to rule the daily activity rather than chaos.
But why did the principal leave? Procedure was needed. The school couldn't stay in the wild west stage forever.
There is something about growing up that is difficult. Just as adolescence is difficult, changes in the life of a charter school are difficult to manage. You can't expect everyone to be excited about every stage and yet you have to have the stages. When you identify your stage, you can also fit people to the stage or help them adapt. However, if you don't know what stage you are at, you may find yourself hiring a dynamic principal at a stage when the school really needs organizational structure.
The business manager saw it because she often talked with the principal about key issues. She also was the only person in whom the principal could confide.
Founding board members who were still active struggled to "get it." Sure, everyone new that things were beginning to stabilize and were not as exciting as the wild west show that it used to be. People began assuming more segmented job descriptions. Procedure began to rule the daily activity rather than chaos.
But why did the principal leave? Procedure was needed. The school couldn't stay in the wild west stage forever.
There is something about growing up that is difficult. Just as adolescence is difficult, changes in the life of a charter school are difficult to manage. You can't expect everyone to be excited about every stage and yet you have to have the stages. When you identify your stage, you can also fit people to the stage or help them adapt. However, if you don't know what stage you are at, you may find yourself hiring a dynamic principal at a stage when the school really needs organizational structure.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Teacher Ed Programs and Teacher Pay
Yesterday I wrote about a radical idea to increase average teacher salary by 30%. I ended by saying that there might be some implications for teacher ed programs.
Let's be honest. We know why there are so many teacher ed programs. It's because there are people who want to be teachers. We need teachers. So, what if we raised salaries so that more of our "best and brightest" entered the teaching profession (and stayed)?
What if we increased class size in order to do it?
The implication is that we need fewer high quality teachers than we do mediocre teachers. This means either fewer teacher ed programs or else fewer students in each program.
Teacher ed programs can't exist unless they make money, which means that some programs would likely close if their enrollment dropped.
Another implication seems to be that high quality teacher programs would increase in demand. It's obvious to me, but I'll just flesh it out here. If we begin attracting higher quality students to teacher programs, they will begin demanding higher quality instruction from their teacher ed program. What follows is that most of the programs that close will be the weaker programs. This will provide an incentive for programs that are serious about keeping students to become better at what they do and build their reputation as a good program.
This may also have implications for the way (not just the amount) teachers are paid. If teachers are paid on some sort of strategically designed salary or incentive scale, that will provide even greater motivation for teachers to seek the best training possible.
So, if my meandering thoughts are right, making certification more difficult and reducing the number of teachers to only those that are of the best quality, will 1. cause salaries to increase, and 2. cause teacher training to improve. Not sure if there is a chicken and egg situation here. Let me think about it.
Let's be honest. We know why there are so many teacher ed programs. It's because there are people who want to be teachers. We need teachers. So, what if we raised salaries so that more of our "best and brightest" entered the teaching profession (and stayed)?
What if we increased class size in order to do it?
The implication is that we need fewer high quality teachers than we do mediocre teachers. This means either fewer teacher ed programs or else fewer students in each program.
Teacher ed programs can't exist unless they make money, which means that some programs would likely close if their enrollment dropped.
Another implication seems to be that high quality teacher programs would increase in demand. It's obvious to me, but I'll just flesh it out here. If we begin attracting higher quality students to teacher programs, they will begin demanding higher quality instruction from their teacher ed program. What follows is that most of the programs that close will be the weaker programs. This will provide an incentive for programs that are serious about keeping students to become better at what they do and build their reputation as a good program.
This may also have implications for the way (not just the amount) teachers are paid. If teachers are paid on some sort of strategically designed salary or incentive scale, that will provide even greater motivation for teachers to seek the best training possible.
So, if my meandering thoughts are right, making certification more difficult and reducing the number of teachers to only those that are of the best quality, will 1. cause salaries to increase, and 2. cause teacher training to improve. Not sure if there is a chicken and egg situation here. Let me think about it.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Was thinking about teacher pay...again
Ok, now here is a thought, and remember it's just a thought. I was thinking about some of the problems in the realm of high quality teaching.
Here are some of the impediments that I've heard from a number of people from a number of backgrounds:
What if teacher ed programs became as difficult as law school? What if the certification exam became as difficult as a medical certification exam?
Let's say for starters that there were no increases in pay for teachers. One could reasonably assume the teaching pool would shrink--perhaps drastically. (Now, anyone who has read this blog before knows that I don't think much of teacher certification, but bear with me.) So, the pool of teachers shrinks drastically. Let's say the new certification applies even to teachers with current certifications and many of those can't pass the new exam.
Just for grins, let's say that the pool of teachers shrinks by 30%. There are a couple of options, but let's just say to compensate, we increase class size by 30%. That seems terrible at first, but then we have to remember that, at least in theory, we now have only the best teachers remaining. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly increase my child's class size 30% IF I knew that there was a high probability that my student would have a truly outstanding teacher.
However, in addition to this challenge, we've now freed up 30% of the resources that used to go to marginal or incompetent teachers. Because many benefits are fixed dollar amounts, we could increase teacher pay more than 30%. Teacher salaries being higher, more people would then be attracted to the profession.
I'm not sure this is the perfect solution, but given the current state of education in many sectors of the U.S., I wonder if something like this needs to happen to kick start improvement in teaching and teacher ed programs. In fact, as I think of this, I can think of a couple of ways this might help teacher ed programs get better. Perhaps that's another blog.
Here are some of the impediments that I've heard from a number of people from a number of backgrounds:
- Can't attract good talent
- Teacher ed programs let in lower level students
- Teacher ed programs are too easy
- Teacher ed programs don't teach the right stuff
- Teacher performance pay programs actually discourage the people they are trying to attract
What if teacher ed programs became as difficult as law school? What if the certification exam became as difficult as a medical certification exam?
Let's say for starters that there were no increases in pay for teachers. One could reasonably assume the teaching pool would shrink--perhaps drastically. (Now, anyone who has read this blog before knows that I don't think much of teacher certification, but bear with me.) So, the pool of teachers shrinks drastically. Let's say the new certification applies even to teachers with current certifications and many of those can't pass the new exam.
Just for grins, let's say that the pool of teachers shrinks by 30%. There are a couple of options, but let's just say to compensate, we increase class size by 30%. That seems terrible at first, but then we have to remember that, at least in theory, we now have only the best teachers remaining. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly increase my child's class size 30% IF I knew that there was a high probability that my student would have a truly outstanding teacher.
However, in addition to this challenge, we've now freed up 30% of the resources that used to go to marginal or incompetent teachers. Because many benefits are fixed dollar amounts, we could increase teacher pay more than 30%. Teacher salaries being higher, more people would then be attracted to the profession.
I'm not sure this is the perfect solution, but given the current state of education in many sectors of the U.S., I wonder if something like this needs to happen to kick start improvement in teaching and teacher ed programs. In fact, as I think of this, I can think of a couple of ways this might help teacher ed programs get better. Perhaps that's another blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)