Schools, businesses, governments, and other organizations attempt to accomplish goals. Ostensibly, it seems leaders can define what they will accomplish, decide how to measure the accomplishment, and plan for how to accomplish it.
Some populations, for example business leaders and politicians, seek to accomplish goals that:
- Define test scores as the measure of learning;
- Test annually;
- Reject all other measures of learning.
Obviously, I am generalizing. Businesses may define broader goals than simply making a profit, although the continued capacity to meet those other goals depends on the business being profitable. Different parts of the citizenry may interpret election results differently, but for the politician the results are easy to interpret.
Educators, on the other hand, face a much different task. It has become clear during the pandemic that schools play many roles in society and different stakeholders judge the goals of schools very differently than others. If we focus on teaching and learning as the goal of schools, it appears we can adopt a business-like or politician-like approach:
- Define test scores as the measure of learning;
- Test annually;
- Reject all other measures of learning.
It appears this is what educators have done, at least in the 21st century. This time corresponds, as well, with the increased politicization of education. (I began my undergraduate studies in 1983, the year A Nation at Risk was published, so I have seen the influences of elections on schools first-hand.) It also corresponds to the time that philanthropists have increased their contributions of educational efforts.
The problem is that this model of goal setting and measuring is misguided for teaching and learning. (In other posts, I have referred to this as the Standard Model of education.) Consider the three characteristics used so far in this post:
- While declarative knowledge and simple skills are amenable to testing, much of what are commonly called “soft skills” (which employers often complain graduates lack, put they most need) are difficult or impossible to reduce to test questions or tasks.
- If students have really learned what we hope they will, they will be “smart” for a long time. Schools that produce students who pass tests, but then cannot use the knowledge that was tested “in the wild” cannot be reasonably be considered successful.
- Learning can be interpreted very differently depending on expectations of the individuals, the context in which the leading is being applied, the culture of the learner, and other factors.
Given the differences between what represents success, the timelines upon which success is measured, and the factors what influence one’s interpretations of the outcomes it seems reasonable to conclude that business/ politics and education are fundamentally different endeavors.