Food for Thought: Can Creativity Be Taught?

The following excerpt is from my part of a conversation on the Learning, Education, and Training Professionals Group on LinkedIn.

Amy Stempel: There is a big difference between intellectual creativity and artistic creativity and I think we confuse the two all the time. Intellectual creativity is not “anything goes” nor is it especially artistic. Albert Einstein had to work within and explain the known rules of the universe before he could convince people of the Theory of Relativity. Truly creative people do not, in fact cannot, ignore the realities in which they find themselves. What they do is to interpret and make connections between and among facts and disciplines in ways that no one else has previously done. True intellectual creativity requires making peace with limits and constraints. That's why it's creative. 

     Now, can you teach it? Yes and no. Counterintuitively, people need frameworks to begin creative thinking (see text structures). Those can be taught. However, only practice, participation, and experience with these structures and intellectual "problems" can develop intellectual creativity. 

The only way to adequately teach “higher-order thinking”, “critical thinking”, or "creative" thinking is through the written analysis of facts and data, just like the only way to lose weight is to exercise and eat healthy food. However, we have tried just about everything to avoid the teaching of thinking and writing, just like millions will try anything to avoid exercise and healthy food—pills, fad diets, sweat lodges, you name it. Why is this? We know it works; why do we avoid it? Because, it takes discipline, deep knowledge, and constant reflection. It's not "inspiration" (at least not alone). It's not "you have it or you don't". Like anything worth developing it takes helpful teaching and extensive individual use, feedback, and more practice.

Glen Hoffherr (Chief Learning Officer at USA Graduate.com): Amy you are correct, however, creativity is more often a result of synthesis than analysis in my experience.

Amy: I agree. If analysis is the breaking apart of information/ideas, then synthesis is the "rebuilding" of those ideas in a new way. However, the only way to do that effectively is to know the parts extremely well so that one can see how they interact. I work with secondary students and I find when we try to go straight to synthesis; they fail miserably because they do not have deep knowledge of the parts. I really think there is a "process" to creativity. It may be a highly idiosyncratic process, but every "creative" person has one. One solution to teaching intellectual creativity is to teach process AND then require lots and lots of practice. I think the practice piece gets forgotten in schools/organizations these days.

Tips for Students: Ten Things For 9th & 10th Graders To Consider Now To Ease The College Application Process

As someone who helps high school seniors with their college applications, I tend to see students at the end of their high school careers. For the purposes of their college applications, the race is run. They have the grades they are going to have, they have the activities, awards, and leadership positions they are going to have. I can help them frame these activities, but they can’t go back and undo the decisions they have already made.

In 9^th and 10^th grades college seems years away, but those years will pass quickly. Beginning in the 9^th grade (or as soon as possible), you will want to set yourself up so that when it comes time to write your applications, you will have all the necessary elements to win admission to the college of your choice—even if you don’t know which college that is right now. Most of this is common sense, but it never hurts to take stock of your direction before you go way off course. Getting on the “right” path at the beginning means less wandering in the woods later, wishing you had done things differently.

Review these elements of a successful high school career and see where you can strengthen your credentials:

1. Choose a high school curriculum that challenges you.

By your junior year (at least) you should be taking several Honors/Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate classes. Colleges want to know that you value learning and are willing to work—a challenging curriculum shows this. This is true even if you get Bs and Cs in these advanced courses. Better to challenge yourself than drift through high school.

2. Earn grades that represent strong effort and an upward trend.

It is best that your grades show an upward trend over the years, especially your junior year! IMPORTANT: slightly lower grades in a rigorous program (like Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate) are preferred to all As in less challenging coursework. Many students and parents don't believe this, but it is absolutely true.

3. Work for solid scores on standardized tests (SAT, ACT).

Take your first round of tests in the spring of your junior year. Depending on your scores, you will then have time to prepare and take them again in the fall of your senior year. You will learn everything you need to do well on these tests in the classes you take in high school. Pay attention.

4. Develop a passionate involvement in a few activities, demonstrating leadership and initiative.

Depth, not breadth, of experience is most important. Again, many students and parents don't believe this, but it’s true. Don’t overextend. It also will make high school that much more enjoyable. Colleges don’t want you to “collect” extra-curriculars; they want happy, interested, well-adjusted students with developed talents.

5. Participate in community service that shows evidence you are a "contributor."

Even if your school doesn't require it, community service is good for everyone. Colleges try to admit students who will go on to perform some service for the world. Any activities that demonstrate concern for other people, a global view, and for which you volunteer count as community service. Also, it makes you a better person and teaches you valuable lessons about how the world works.

6. Find work and/or out-of-school experiences (including summer activities) that illustrate responsibility, dedication, and development of areas of interest.

A job or other meaningful use of free time demonstrates maturity. While it might seem helpful if your parents are able get you an internship in their friend’s prestigious law firm, colleges are not fooled. They know you were handed that opportunity and didn't work for it. It's best to start early with part-time or summer work that you obtain on your own and gradually work into more responsibility. Although everyone needs a vacation, use your summers wisely!

7. Get help when you need it.

If your grades start to slip or you are confused about something, get help early and often. Sometimes help is just a quick review from your teacher. Sometimes help is long-term tutoring in a subject. The sooner you get help, the less you will struggle and the better your grades.

8. Remember you will need letters of recommendation from teachers and guidance counselors that give evidence of integrity, special skill, and positive character traits.

In order to receive helpful recommendations when the time comes, you will need to work well with and for at least a few of your teachers. Start developing those relationships now, so that those teachers you ask will be able to recommend you happily and without reservation. Letters from coaches or supervisors in long-term work or volunteer activities are valuable, but not necessary. However, recommendations from casual acquaintances or family friends, even if they're well known, are rarely given much weight. Everyone wants to believe they have an "in", but it just doesn't work that way (except in extremely rare cases: parents paid for a new library, father is president of the United States, etc.) Most of us just have to stand on our merits. 

9. Do not post pictures or bragging of a compromising nature on Facebook, MySpace or any other on-line social networking venue. Do not send compromising pictures of yourself to your boy/girlfriend (or anyone else for that matter!).
Colleges check. Google makes it phenomenally easy, and they do it regularly. On-line items you think are private are not, especially when you break up with said boy/girlfriend. That picture you thought was “just for him (or her)” will make the rounds and colleges will see it. That you were naïve enough to let it on to the internet will not speak well of your judgment.

10. Stay out of serious trouble!

Any school related disciplinary actions (suspension, expulsion, etc.) will be reported by your high school to the colleges to which you apply (see Secondary School Report on the Common Application). You must report any adult convictions in the court system on your applications. Colleges do check, so don't think you can lie about it. If you do end up with a blemish on your record, you will need to address it truthfully on your application. As long as you are honest about it and show that you have learned from your mistake, it shouldn't prevent you from being accepted. 


Finally, remember to enjoy high school! Do what you love, and your college applications and choices will fall into place! 

Tips for Parents: Are Your Student's Assignments On Grade-Level?

Students can do no better than the assignments they are given.

This mantra lies at the heart of teaching. Teacher assignments and instruction are the vehicles through which knowledge is or is not transmitted to students. In working through an assignment, students apply, wrestle with, and consolidate their knowledge. Simply put, students won’t learn information and skills they are not asked to learn in order to complete their assignments.

After analyzing thousands of assignments teachers have given their students over the last ten years, I have uncovered the nasty fact that there are blatant inequities in the availability and distribution of knowledge among students in classrooms and schools. Teachers’ assignments provide insight into why and how students fall behind and stay behind.

Let’s look at an example of a 10^th grade history/geography assignment. The following task appeared on an end-of-unit test in a south Florida public high school, the unit being the Age of Discovery. There were no other geography questions on the test. The steps we are going to go through here are a modified version of the first three (of six) steps of the FLEX Team analysis I developed to use with teachers.

Assignment: Draw a map of the Caribbean, labeling major cities and geologic features.

STEP 1: First, let’s look at the teacher’s purpose in asking the questions. What is the academic purpose of this assignment?

• Know general shapes of the Caribbean islands, major cities and geologic features

STEP 2: Once the teacher purpose is established in step one, let’s look at what a person would need to know and be able to do to complete the task successfully?

• Basic recall, no analysis
• Memorize the islands, major cities, and basic geologic feature
• Don’t even need to know where the Caribbean is in order to fulfill expectations.

STEP 3: Now let’s identify the standards that apply to this assignment. Unfortunately, the benchmark that best fits the 10^th grade assignment above is the grade 2 benchmark (2002 Sunshine State Standards [Florida]):

• use simple maps, globes, and other three-dimensional models to identify and locate places.

Wow! That’s certainly not what we want, an eight grade gap between what students should be asked to know and do and what they are being asked to know and do! In order to fix that, let’s look at two of the Florida geography benchmarks for 10th grade:

• use a variety of maps, geographic technologies including geographic information systems (GIS) and satellite-produced imagery, and other advanced graphic representations to depict geographic problems.
• understand the advantages and disadvantages of using maps from different sources and different points of view.

As you can see, the 10^th grade standards require that students analyze information and figure out how to apply knowledge to a complex situation. They still need to know facts, but then they are asked to show the relationship between them, to analyze. With this in mind, we can rewrite the assignment to address the second of the 10^th grade geography standards, focusing on those geographic issues that were important during the age of discovery.

Revised Assignment: How does Mercator’s 1633 map of the New World differ from Kircher’s 1665 map? If you were going to sail from Europe to the New World, which map would you use and why?

STEP 1: Again, let’s look at the teacher’s purpose in asking the question. What is the academic purpose of this assignment?

• Analysis of information, written proposition-support response
• Mercator’s projection and its purpose
• Kirtcher’s projection and its purpose

STEP 2: Now, what would a person need to know and be able to do to complete the task successfully?

• Analysis of information, written proposition-support response
• Understand the navigation technology used by the explorers and its limitations
• Mercator’s projection and its purpose
• Kirtcher’s projection and its purpose
• Where explorers generally started, where they ended up

STEP 3: Now let’s identify the standards that apply to this revised assignment. We wrote the assignment to specifically address the second of the 10^th grade geography standards but we will also need a writing standard to help focus students on the organization of the response (2002 Sunshine State Standards [Florida]).

• understand the advantages and disadvantages of using maps from different sources and different points of view. (Geography)
• uses an effective organizational pattern (in this case proposition-support) and substantial support to achieve a sense of completeness or wholeness (for example, considering audience, sequencing events/ideas, choosing effective vocabulary, using specific details to clarify meaning). (English Language Arts)

By examining assignments in this way, establishing what was expected and what background knowledge is required to complete the assignment, we are able to establish how rigorous the expectations are. Then, just for good measure, we compare the assignment to the standards for that grade. If there is no match, we have to rethink the assignment. For more examples of FLEX Team analysis, click here.

But now the question is, how do we teach all kids to successfully answer these rigorous, grade appropriate questions? Instruction. "Students can do no better than the assignments they are given," may be our mantra, but it is only half of what needs to happen. "Students can do no better than the assignments they are given AND the instruction they receive." In my next post, I’ll talk about what rigorous instruction looks like, but in the meantime think about what it would take to instruct kids to be successful on the assignment we started with and what it would take to instruct kids to be successful on the assignment we ended up with.

Tips for Teachers: Ten Things Parents Really Want To Tell You

As you know, I’m a teacher. But I’m also a parent. As a parent there are some things about my daughter’s teachers that drive me nuts. In addition, I train teachers for a living. And I’ve seen it all—believe me. Having abused parents in one of my prior posts, I’d now like to inform teachers what they could do to smooth the instructional path. What follows is a handy list for teachers to use if they want to keep relations smooth:

1. Use the internet/email—please. Everyone else in the world does, and yet many teachers, certainly not all, but many, don’t think they have to. Email is an easy, unobtrusive way to communicate with parents and it takes much less time than trying to catch someone on the phone. In addition, there is this handy new invention called the world wide web (www, for short). Most schools now have “class pages” where teachers can post assignments, rubrics, class policies, etc. Use it. Please. See #2 below.
2. Provide written instructions for major projects. If you want parent involvement, you have to provide written instructions for complex assignments (and post them on your class page—see above). Often students forget, don’t know, or don’t care about the format or content of assignments (it’s a learned skill, like much else—my daughter still insists that if she can read her own messy handwriting, it’s fine).
3. Don’t EVER say to my child, “I don’t do math” or “I hated science when I was your age.” One of your jobs is to be a roll model. If you can’t say anything nice about a subject, then don’t say anything at all. Because if you help to ruin my child’s attitude towards any subject, I might just have to hunt you down.
4. Rigorous learning really can be fun. All good learning is fun but not all fun is good learning—make sure you know the difference. Do not make my child copy notes from the book. That’s not rigorous learning. Do not fail my child for not putting their page numbers in the right place. Do not, in anything but art class, grade my child on the quality of her rendering. Students know busy work, and parents know busy work. If you could hear what goes on between parents, you would know we have your number. We may choose to not fight the battle, but we know.
5. Please stop trying to tell me that building a model of a boat (or making a collage) will help my child with reading comprehension. That’s just silly. The “creativity’ that needs to be encouraged in school is intellectual creativity, not artistic creativity. Intellectual creativity is not “anything goes” nor is it especially artistic. Albert Einstein had to work within and explain the known rules of the universe before he could convince people of the Theory of Relativity. Truly creative people do not, in fact cannot, ignore the realities in which they find themselves. What they can do, and do do, is interpret and synthesize facts in ways that no one else has thought of. This is a learned skill for most people. Please teach it. If you don’t know how, please learn.Most critically, those who are intellectually creative (or at least those who make their mark on the world) are then able to effectively communicate that interpretation to the world. Because no matter how brilliant a person is, if she cannot communicate her thinking to the wider world, nothing will come of it. Learn your discipline and teach it. Analytical, non-fiction writing is one of the most important things you can teach my child.
6. Please understand multiple intelligences. When Howard Gardner described multiple intelligences he in no way meant that students should only learn to their strengths. What he hoped teachers would understand is that they could use multiple intelligences to help students learn to know and do what they will need to succeed. Namely writing. Analytical writing is thinking. Any writing is thinking. Yes, I may be a kinesthetic learner, but I still need to learn how to communicate effectively. Quit looking for excuses not to teach and focus on instructing those to whom writing/thinking does not come naturally. That is why they are in school. Isn’t it?
7. If you don’t want to work with irresponsible, spacey people with very little impulse control (i.e., children) then don’t be a teacher. As a teacher trainer, I get tired of teachers telling me how bad their students are. Yes, students don’t do their homework, yes they disrupt class, yes they think they are the cat’s pajamas and everyone over the age of 18 is uptight. There never was a time when this wasn’t so, because it’s what children do. If you can’t live with it and find humor in it, then work with grownups (who will act the same way incidentally—even more annoying). Working with children of any age can be terribly frustrating—we’ve all had bad days. But when the bad days outnumber the good days, it’s time to move on.
8. Don’t take out your stress about test results on your students. Standards and testing are not your enemy. The next time I hear a teacher say, “You all better do well on the test, or you’re in trouble,” I’ll scream. Your job is to prepare them to “show what they know.” My daughter’s Kindergarten teacher taught me a valuable lesson that I will pass on to other teachers. One day my daughter came home extremely (happy) excited. When I asked her why, she said, “Tomorrow is our PALS test, we get to show what we know to the whole world.” Well, knock me over! Her teacher, Ms. Knight, had not only taught them what they needed to know to do well on the assessment, she had helped them understand that testing is not to be feared, it’s what helps us know what we have learned and what we still need to learn. My daughter is in 5^th grade this year, and she still is surprisingly mellow about testing.
9. Redefine compassion to include teaching valuable skills. My child will develop self-esteem as she learns to complete complex tasks successfully. If you teach her well, she will develop self-esteem naturally. I’ve never met a student who didn’t know it when she was being lied to about how well she was doing. A deserved bad grade here and there never hurt anyone. A good, large disappointment in life early on is often, when handled correctly, a motivator.
10. Five minutes explaining something to a parent can save you houses of agony. Treat parents as partners, not adversaries. If anything over communicate. Parents talk, so even if one parent continues to be stroppy, if the others feel part of the loop they will help talk the difficult one down. I know this is hard. I am a teacher, as well as being a parent. Sometimes I just want to go home. However, I can tell you that when I give in to that impulse, I always face a pie in the face the next day.

Tips for Parents: Ten Things Teachers Really Think About Your Child

Parents are nutty when it comes to their children. I know. I once had a strong desire to put the smackdown on a third grade boy who had the temerity to reject my then second grade daughter's admiration. Really! How could he!

Luckily, I was able to laugh at myself and use it as a learning experience for both of us. For my daughter the lesson was "life is full of disappointments, but that does not diminish the special person you are." For me the lesson was "keep this moment in mind when you have an irate and/or irrational parent sitting in front of you the a parent-teacher conference." All parents are crazy (literally) about their kids, and they should be. However, they (we?) need to learn to keep it under control lest we teach our children some unintended and harmful lessons. 

I've worked in public school, private school, and charter schools at the middle and high school level. I've worked as an education consultant to school districts with the Council for Basic Education, the Education Trust, and independently. And I'm the parent of a 4th grader in public school. This makes me uniquely qualified to provided some behind-the-scenes information to parents. I know there are teachers who would rather be anywhere else than in the classroom, just as I know there are awful parents out there. I'm not talking about either in this post. I'm talking about basic well-meaning teachers who have made a profession spending six to eight hours a day with 25 (elementary school) to 180 (middle and high school) students and all that involves.

1. First, your child will never be as wonderful, gifted, beautiful, sweet, or special to his or her teacher (or the world) as he or she is to you. This is a good thing. All children need someone to have their back (a parent or guardian) and all children need to be pushed (by the many teachers, coaches, mentors in their lives). Without both the support and the push students seldom reach their potential. Parents need to understand this and realize that it is as it should be. Every time you find yourself saying to a teacher, "You just don't understand Benji," stop yourself. Chances are the teacher understands Benji all too well. Chances are the teacher has seen many, many Benjis in his or her career and understands the dynamics of 14-year olds (or 8-year olds) much better than you do.
   
2. Unlike most adults, teachers make a living working with children. They know how children develop, what behavior is appropriate at certain ages (out in the world, not in your house), and they know what students will need to know to succeed in the world. Listen to them. Do I agree with everything my daughter's school says and does? No. But I do agree with most, and that will have to do. The world is an imperfect place, and we all need to make peace with imperfection. This goes for both public and private schools. Even if you pay a hefty fee each year for your child's K-12 education, you are not entitled to 100% agreement or veto power on what is or is not taught or how it is taught. You either buy into the whole, knowing you will not always agree; you go somewhere else where you can buy into and support the whole; or you homeschool. It's that simple. For everyone.
3. The apple never falls that far from the tree. Really. The first school I taught in was a boarding school and we rarely saw the parents. However, every once in a while parents would show up for a visit and want to speak to their child's teachers. Let me tell you, it was always an eye opener and it was always informative. Why is Benji so aggressive? Oh, his mother (or father) is always threatening to sue the school. Why does Benji act so entitled to good grades without effort. Let me see, his father (or mother) is always at school arguing about his grades. Why does Benji find it impossible to sit still? Let me guess, his mother (or father) is the same way. Once I switched to a public school, the evidence mounted. Now I always want to know more about the family when there is an issue with the student. And usually this information is critical in helping solve the problem. 
4. Teachers can tell when you compete work for your children. It's a no brainer. In fact, I can tell just by looking if a student has cut and pasted from the internet. A brief google check proves me right. Not only do teachers know what is developmentally appropriate at each age, but teachers get to know students work. A sudden change in level needs to be investigated. Each of these situations is a form of plagiarism and neither will help your child learn the skills they will need to be successful. You will die someday and I sincerely doubt that you want to be supporting your son or daughter when they are 35 with a spouse and children of their own. Let your child struggle a little bit--it's the only way to learn.
5. Children behave differently out in the world and with their peers than they do at home and around their parents. This is so obvious, and yet all parents forget it. Children are trying out a variety of "selves" when they are with their friends and at school. An otherwise sweet, bright, helpful 10-year old may be trying out a "mean girl" persona on the playground or the "I don't care about school" persona in the classroom. If a teacher draws your attention to unacceptable behavior, don't ignore it. Don't say, "Benji would never do that!" Jails are full of former children whose parents didn't believe the warning when they were given. Or your child could grow up to defraud the public in the country's biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. Or maybe he will just grow up to be a jerk. There are certainly plenty of jerks in the world who were once children. It all starts somewhere.
6. Your child is more resilient than you think. Students need to learn how to handle consequences, disappointment, and all the other bad things that go with being alive in this world. A parent's job is not to protect children from all of it, but to help them weather it. Providing children with tools to cope and modeling how to cope in difficult situations is greatest gift a parent can give a child--not making sure that everything goes his or her way. Life isn't fair--get used to it.
7. Your child knows how to play you (the parent) and me (the teacher) off against each other brilliantly. Yes, your little angel knows how to do this. My little angel certainly does. Don't play. When your child tells you something outrageous happened in the school one day, don't react much. Ask a few questions about why it happened and leave it. Then, if you are still worried, tell your child you are going to call the teacher directly to discuss it. Frame the issue as one of information gathering, "This is what Benji told me, but I suspect there is some missing information." Once your child sees that they can't lure you in to fighting their battles, they will stop. My father calls it, "Let's you and him fight!" and students are masters at it.
8. Your child really did earn that D (or C or A). Contrary to popular belief, students generally earn the grades they deserve. Rarely do teachers waist precious time "punishing" students with poor grades. The reasons for bad grades include not turning in homework, turning in homework late, not listening to the directions, and general inattention. That said, teachers are human and biases can creep in--it's human nature. If your child is a pain in the behind, it's hard to forget (just like it's hard to forget an employee who is a pain!). But then, if your child grows up to be a pain he may be that employee who gets laid off first. Children are like puppies, what's cute when they are babies is definitely NOT cute when they are grown (and we teachers never knew your child as a baby and don't have those cute memories to carry us through...).
9. Children lie, especially when their behinds are on the line. Well, maybe "lie" is too strong a word. Let's just say kids shade the truth--all the time. Yes, your kid. Really. They may tell you the teacher got mad at them but "forget" to tell you that they were disruptive in class (my daughter's favorite contextual omission). They are famous for telling parents, "The teacher didn't tell me how to do it." Most often this is not really the case (after questioning my daughter, I often get a surprised "Oh, we did this yesterday!). Healthy skepticism is the way to go. Over time patterns will emerge, and you will be able to tell what is real and what is not.
10. Children learn best when parents and teachers act like a team, not adversaries. Just as it's important for mothers and fathers to be on the same page when disciplining children, it is important for parents and teachers to work together. My best relationships with parents have been when we approached educating their child as equal partners with different areas of expertise. Always go directly to a teacher with a concern. Don't let it fester and don't go first to the principal. Remember, teachers know your child as you never will. Use them. Listen to them.

And finally, I won't ask you to be a perfect parent (or anything else, for that matter), if you don't ask me to be a perfect teacher.

Disclaimer #1: Lest you think I have it in for parents, rest assured. My next post will be on what teachers owe parents.

Disclaimer #2: Apologies to any Benjis out there. I heard the name a few days ago (after many years) and it stuck with me. All the Benjis I know (including, I'm reminded, my new brother-in-law--Ben now, Benji back then) are great people!

Knowledge Nugget: What is Merit Pay for Teachers and Why Has It Caused Such an Uproar?

Ah, yes. This is the big question on everyone's mind right now. President Obama has stated his support for merit pay for teachers and the reaction in the teaching profession is as though he has called for their public thrashing. 

First, the basics. There are many different types of merit pay proposals out there, but the issue is not "Should we have a merit pay system for teachers?" but rather "What kind of merit pay system for teachers should we have?" 

Most merit pay systems propose to give teachers a bonus if they improve student achievement in their class. This is on top of a teacher's salary. No teacher will lose money if their students do not do well on the test (although that is a thought....). 

The argument gets fuzzy, and is purposely mischaracterized by many, when it comes to deciding how to measure student achievement. Do we A) measure how many students a teacher moves into the "proficient" (or "advanced") category in one year (no matter where the students start the year) or do we B) measure how much teachers grow students (no matter where students end the year)?

Teacher unions are very afraid of A (and rightly so--a teacher could be doing a phenomenal job growing students, but because they came to her many grade levels below, she is not recognized) and don't want to think about the implications of B (because it begins with the premise that lack of achievement can be directly linked to substandard instruction). In order to illustrate the issue, let's look at three somewhat oversimplified examples.

Example one is a gifted and talented class. Mr. B's students begin the school year at the proficient or advanced levels and "grow" one grade level during the year, but no more. Should Mr. B get a bonus (merit pay)? No, he has only done the minimum required of a competent teacher.

Example two is a class in a relatively low performing school. Most of Ms. F's students begin the year two or three grade levels below where they should be according to state tests. Ms. F ends the year with most students growing two or more grade levels, yet many may still technically be below proficiency. Should Ms. F get a bonus (merit pay)? Yes, Ms. F has accelerated the growth of her students, growing them more than required.

Example three is an average class in an average school. Ms. Z's students come to her mostly testing that the proficient and advanced levels on the state test. Unfortunately, after a year in Ms. Z's classroom most students have lost ground, scoring significantly lower than the year before. Although they may still be proficient (for example, moving from a high proficient to a very low proficient), they have lost knowledge and skills that the next teacher will have to reteach. Should Ms. Z get a bonus (merit pay)? Absolutely not! In fact, she may want to reconsider teaching as a career.

Most people would agree that a teacher should be able to "grow" students one grade level per year on average. That seems a basic indicator of competence for a teacher. Data clearly shows that "low-impact" teachers (i.e. teachers whose students grow less than one year) can actually make students stupider over time. Remember, we are not talking about where the students start, just that they grow one grade level in one year. However, given that so many students in this country are behind, we also need to find and reward teachers who are able to do more--who are able to grow students two and three grade levels in one year.

The best solution to the merit pay debate would be a system that rewarded a bit of both. It's no good growing students unless they eventually reach proficiently, but teachers should not be able to coast on their high achieving students. And, believe it or not, there are three states already using a value-added assessment (VAA) to determine "high-impact" teachers and schools (although the merit pay issue is still as toxic in these states as it is everywhere else): Tennessee (the first system developed by the granddaddy of VAA, Dr. William Sanders), Ohio, and Pennsylvania, with more on the way. This seems like a solution to the problem, you say. Well, yes, it is. Is it perfect? Is anything? Would it move us in the right direction? Certainly.

So what's the problem, you ask? Teacher unions. Rather than joining the fight to develop a system that works for students and helps administrators build schools that educate all students, they quibble. Here are some sample arguments, some with merit, some without:

• The tests are of poor quality and/or biased;
  
• So much more than simple student achievement goes into determining proficiency;
  
• If I work in an under-performing school, then my students will never grow or reach proficiency, and I will never get a bonus; and 
  
• In secondary school it is impossible to tell exactly which teachers produce the gain or are responsible for the loss. 

Each of these arguments has a response that will be addressed in subsequent blogs, but if we as a nation believe that teachers make a difference (and the truth is they make a difference both ways--for better and for worse), then we owe it to children to continue to perfect a value-added assessment system that supports a merit pay system for teachers. Certainly more work needs to be done to improve the quality of the tests, the reliability of the value-added system, and instruction in general, but the focus needs to move from whether we should have merit pay for teachers to how to make it work.

For more background information see the National Center for Policy Analysis and the Progressive Policy Institute.

Tips for Parents: What is Academic Writing?

Writing is thinking. If you're not writing clearly, you're not thinking clearly. People cannot think without language, let alone communicate with others. There's no other way to teach "higher order thinking skills" or "critical thinking skills" than to ask students to write analytical responses to rich questions--not narrative or poetry. Like dieters looking for a magic pill, the educational system has tried and will try everything before doing what works.

Most of what is being explicitly taught about writing in schools focuses on the creative aspects of writing fiction or poetry; relatively little focus is put on the types of non-fiction academic writing that students will need to succeed in life and school, like the six non-fiction text structures, sentence (idea) combining, and transition words and phrases. My clients have never asked me to write a story about the results of a workshop. The IRS has consistently rejected my poems about why I need a payment plan.

If this focus on narrative, creative writing sounds illogical, that's because it is. The system focuses on writing as a creative art (as fiction is), rather than a learned, structured skill (as non-fiction is). Elementary school teachers explicitly teach narrative, descriptive writing and then hope that the students intuit how to transfer those skills to write clear, concise analytical responses to complex questions in secondary school. Parents are left to wonder why their children are not able to analyze and synthesize information. Many a parent whose children I work with confide that they are worried because their children write nonsense, that their thinking is superficial and simple. And it is, because they have never been taught any differently.

I can't tell you how many times I've had secondary teachers say to me, "These kids can't write!" Well, that is why they are in school, isn't it? To learn? Or students say to me "I know it, but I just can't explain it." Guess what? There's no such thing as knowing something without being able to explain it. That Emperor is buck naked and it's about time somebody noticed! Clarity of thinking doesn't happen accidentally. We forget that writing is nothing more than thinking made visible. To follow an other's thinking, communication needs to be logically organized and effectively communicated. How to do it needs to be taught, explicitly and systematically in every subject. There is no substitute, no magic pill that will make it happen without actual writing.

Middle and high school teachers often say to me, "I don't teach writing, I teach science (or social studies, or math). However, every teachers teaches thinking--or should do. While non-language arts secondary teachers may not teach grammar, usage, mechanics, and style, they need to teach students how to think and express complex ideas and information in their discipline--using the organizational structures and technical vocabulary most useful to that discipline.

So parents--ask your children's schools and teachers for more non-fiction, analytical writing across all subject areas. Ask when they will do it, why aren't they doing more of it, and what kinds of writing they are doing instead.