Comparing Schools Can Be Costly For a School
Comparisons between schools and districts can be more costly and a less effective approach to improving schools in the long run. It is similar to the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO).
The only difference is we are not talking about an individual but the administration or a department at a school. By comparing another school to your school, the idea is that since their test scores are better than yours, you should be using the curriculum (lessons of a course) they are using. [1]
Here is where “the fear of missing out” holds a grip on some schools; a department tries a new curriculum (lessons of a course) because of a new administration and uses it for several years. [1]
I speak of the curriculum as lessons taught at school in a specific course. It is different than the dictionary definition of curriculum. The word curriculum is used more loosely at my school. [1]
Here Is How it Works
After trying a curriculum for two years, a member administration hears that School X uses another curriculum; the scores are higher in School X than theirs.
The claim is that the curriculum must be the reason for the higher standardized test scores; the teachers use another curriculum for the next school year because of a directive.
Instead of trying something and staying with the curriculum for at least five years, the change occurs immediately after the new “flavor of the month” is discovered.
If you stay with a curriculum long enough, the curriculum could work, but we never use a curriculum to find out if it could be effective in the long run.
The other side of that argument is teachers stay with a curriculum too long even though it is not working for the students at the school; I know it is difficult to gauge because there is no exact metric to determine the effectiveness of a curriculum.
Data correlates to the curriculum based on biased test scores; the administration makes decisions based on the data.
Comparisons Between Schools Can Be Costly
Comparing your school to another school can have a crippling effect. Important decisions based on inaccurate information can affect the entire school.
As the standardized test scores decrease every year, the “fear of missing out” becomes more pronounced. Changes occur within the school, and the students and teachers are the lab rats.
How Do You Handle the Many Changes at School
Don’t think of teaching as anything more than teaching; there will always be teachers on campus who are willing to go with the flow no matter where the tide takes them; these teachers flip-flop on ideas based on ideas from the administration.
When a new administration joins the school, they redirect their focus to the current administration. Things said during the previous administration are sometimes contradictory on what they say with the current administration.
Read my article “It’s Like Building a Barbeque Pit” as an analogy to how often things change at schools.
Takeaway
Riding the waves of the many changes on campus will make any teacher dizzy because the changes are constant; they will continue to happen.
“You Can’t Please Everyone” is an article I wrote illustrating the many changes.
I don’t think about “what if I tried this or tried that” when I’m home. Being able to separate work and home eliminates everything about “The Fear of Missing Out” at work.
Final Thoughts
I have several textbooks sets in my back room at work to illustrate the many years the school changed textbooks and curriculums; the changes were always the result of comparing our school to another.
Comparisons run rampant between teachers and administrators in schools. A teacher hears of the great things that are happening at another school.
The person brings the news back to their school; the administration is convinced, and the school has a new curriculum and textbooks for the next school year.
The end of the year is like Christmas for the consultants and textbook companies. They know that someone will come knocking on their door because of the standardized test scores.
It would be nice if school comparisons stopped, but I know that won’t happen; it will continue every year.
Reference [1] https://www.edglossary.org/curriculum/
Don Sabado
Teacher | Author | Writer
Follow me on: