This summer, I took the opportunity to read a lot of books, as well as an array of insightful articles on the state of education and teaching. One that caught my attention was a piece by David Kirp, entitled  “Teaching is Not a Business” that was published in the New York Times. 

 

The article is critical of the “business” approach to school improvement that many reformers have adopted on a national level: “Marketplace mantras dominate policy discussions. High-stakes reading and math tests are treated as the single metric of success, the counterpart to the business bottom line. Teachers whose students do poorly on those tests get pink slips, while those whose students excel receive merit pay, much as businesses pay bonuses to their star performers and fire the laggards. Just as companies shut stores that aren’t meeting their sales quotas, opening new ones in more promising territory, failing schools are closed, and so-called turnaround model schools, with new teachers and administrators, take their place.” 

In the independent school world, we are all about accountability.  We bring some essential concepts from the business world to our work. We track student performance and retention. We pay attention to our alumni and what they go on to do. We listen regularly to feedback about how we can improve our program.  But, successful independent schools like Colorado Academy understand something about education: that teaching is relational. 

We recognize that we are a human community and that our work helping young people to become critical and creative thinkers takes personal attention if it is to be implemented effectively.  As Kirp writes, “It’s impossible to improve education by doing an end run around inherently complicated and messy human relationships. All youngsters need to believe that they have a stake in the future, a goal worth striving for, if they’re going to make it in school. They need a champion, someone who believes in them, and that’s where teachers enter the picture. The most effective approaches foster bonds of caring between teachers and their students.”

Our program at CA is aimed at bringing together a pursuit of excellence in academics, arts, athletics, and character with strong support.  I encourage all parents to attend our upcoming Back-to-School nights during which you will meet your child’s teachers and experience our faculty’s dedication and commitment to young people. 

Improving our nation’s schools is going to require more than high-stakes testing. It is going to involve an investment in talented and professional educators who use their expertise in subject matter and pedagogy to ignite a love of learning in their students.