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How Do You Stay Focused, Part II: The Role of the Leader
Last time we talked about staying focused - getting those distractions out of the way that keep us from accomplishing what we want to. We agreed that life is full of distractions-pleasures and obligations-that can pull us off task. We studied the...
Leadership Development - Leadership Styles and Training
What makes a good leader?
Leadership development
Ever since we started Impact Factory, lo these many years ago,
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Making the Connection: Customer Relationships That Build Your Business
Have you ever wondered why you often find a coupon tucked inside your cereal box, or get invited to a customer preview sale at your favorite department store? Those companies know that their existing customers are the best - and most profitable -...
Profit from wooden novelties
Make and sell toy cars, wagons, wooden puzzle and hobby horses. retail them at flea markets, fairs, through national ads, direct from your shop or yard and/or wholesale them to stores or catalog sales companies. Wooden toys have a special appeal...
Try These Strange Jobs
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Meta metrics: there is no need to measure the minutae when inspecting schools or Local Authorities
Here is a strange phenomenon - well, strange at first glance. I
have noticed that whenever I am behind someone who clearly
cannot handle their car very well, or get "cut up" by someone
whose driving technique is about as subtle as a brick, when they
apply the brakes they have only one brake light working. At a
rough "guestimate", I would say that this holds true around 90
to 95% of the time.
In fact, having just one brake light working is such a good
predictor of poor driving that if I find myself behind someone
with just one brake light working I hold well back.
A few days ago I saw a car sort of dither at a junction, then
lurch forward in front of me, then weave from side to side as he
turned right (a task which he seemed to find inordinately
difficult). I predicted that he would have only one brake light
working. As it turned out, I was wrong. But one of his brake
lights showed as white, rather than red - and his car had a dent
in the side and a dent at the rear. In other words, even though
my prediction was not 100% accurate, it was pretty close.
Now, let's turn our attention to schools. Here in the UK, the
self-evaluation form (SEF) recommended by the Office for
Standards in Education (Ofsted) consists of 25 pages for primary
or elementary schools, and 27 pages for secondary or high
schools. For Local Authorities, the guidance for the
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) consists of 45 pages
of guidance and dozens of measurements covering all walks of
life. For example, one measurement is the tonnage of waste per
head of population, with the accompanying notes: In consultation
with DEFRA, the thresholds for this PI have been calculated as
averages plus or minus one standard deviation (approximately
50), rather than as lower and upper quartiles. Lower threshold:
455kg/ head (collection only authorities) 575kg/ head (disposal
only authorities) 555kg/ head (joint collection/ disposal
authorities).
Upper threshold: 355kg/ head (collection only authorities)
485kg/ head (disposal only authorities) 455kg/ head (joint
collection/ disposal authorities). No change
In my view, this kind of minute tick-boxing is ludicrous,
because everyone knows what a good school looks like, and
everyone knows what a good Local Authority feels like. What
needs to happen is that someone should devise a set of meta
metrics: measures that almost invariably enable you to make
accurate judgements and predictions, like the single brake
light.
Starting with schools, there are a number of virtually
infallible predictors of whether a school is good or bad:
The attitude of the receptionist: tone of voice, form of
greeting, how long you are kept waiting before being seen to
etc. The plushness of the reception area: huge potted plants,
expensive-looking paintings on the walls and notices reading "No
children allowed
beyond this point" are all indicators of a
school that has forgotten what its reason for existence is.
Attitude of staff towards children: aggressive posturing,
shouting, finger-wagging or just plain curtness, by several
staff, all suggest a school that has lost control and, again,
has forgotten what it's there for. Old, tatty or lack of
children's work on walls indicates either the same, or that the
school was built through a Private Finance Initiative which
stipulated that nothing must ever be put up on walls. Based on
these suggestions, an inspection team should walk into a school
completely unannounced, walk around for 10 minutes, and then
come to an initial professional evaluation (IPE). The rest of
the day (it shouldn't take longer than that) should be spent
gathering data to prove or disprove the IPE, before arriving at
a Final Professional Evaluation (FPE).
Moving on to Local Authorities, once again there are extremely
accurate predictors of overall effectiveness:
1. Phone calls which are answered within 5 rings, after which
you are put on hold for 20 minutes, is indicative of an LA that
has set performance targets whilst losing sight of the fact that
targets should only be a means to an end, not ends in themselves.
2. Phone calls in which you are taken through a long and
complicated menu system, at the end of which a voice says
"Sorry, we are closed, please try again tomorrow between 10 and
12:30" are indicative of an LA that has never come across the
idea of customer-focused.
3. If different parts of the LA don't communicate with each
other, you will find yourself giving your name and address 5
times to different departments. That should tell you a lot about
the LA's likely ability to ensure that nobody, eg children at
risk, fall through the gaps between services.
4. If the streets of the LA are knee deep in rubbish, shops are
derelict, and there is a general pall of depression, either
there is a severe economic decline or the LA's spending
priorities are somewhat suspect.
Based on these suggestions, inspectors of Local Authorities
could conduct the inspection fairly accurately over the
telephone. In fact, phoning the LA pretending to be a new in the
area and a parent looking for a suitable school will enable an
assessment to be made straight away against criteria 1 - 3.
Now, clearly these suggestions are rather sweeping and made
tongue-in-cheek. However, one or more of these sets of
characteristics is often found in a poor school or a poor Local
Authority. Like the missing brake light, they are not causal
factors, but their existence should cause us to be on our guard.
About the author:
Terry Freedman has been in education for 30 years. For more
articles, an d to subscribe to a free newsletter called
Computers in Classrooms, please see
http://www.ictineducation.org.
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