Educational Leadership - September 2015

echnology today allows us to parse,
measure, and report on just about every-
thing, and because we can, we do. This
focus on measurement sometimes leads to changed
behavior. Amazon, for example, is proposing
to pay some authors on the basis of the actual
number of pages read in their books, instead of by
the number of copies sold. So much for royalties!

Then there’s my new electronic bracelet; it records my steps, heartbeat, calorie consumption, and sleep patterns, and as a result I’m walking more to reach my

10,000-step daily goal!

Schools are awash with measurements. Forget dreams; education is increasingly becoming a field of yardsticks. Online programs that teach writing record not only the final product, but also track the revisions made along the way and how much time the writer spent crafting them. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is developing standardized tests that measure students’ grit and desire for learning.

Information enables us to understand what’s happening; with that knowledge, we can prioritize, motivate, and monitor. I’m all in favor of measuring what’s important, assessing our efforts, and deciding what needs to be modified. However, we need to be thoughtful about not only what is being measured but also what is being ignored.

I often hear principals complain of feeling besieged by the test score milieu in which we work. We talk about the importance of looking at the “whole child,” but often that wider view of a child’s growth and well-being is more talk than action; it’s not part of the equation for determining success—either our school’s or our own. District mandates, the media, and parent opinion focus only on test scores. We live and die by the stanine.

But that’s partly our fault. We have a respon-
sibility here; we need to be proactive in how we
think about assessment.
Decisions about what to assess shouldn’t be
made without us or done to us. We should take
the initiative and develop metrics to help frame
our school and focus our efforts. Sure, many
measures are thrust upon us, determined by state
governments, school boards, and central office
administrators, but we should be an integral part
of the dialogue. We need
to be able to say, “Yes,
our students need to do
well on traditional aca-
demic measures, but what
else is important?” Let’s
decide how to measure
and monitor what makes a
difference.
Begin by looking
beyond students’ perfor-
mance on test scores. What else is valued in your
community? What’s in your school’s mission
statement? Years ago, at an open house, I gave
parents an index card and asked them to respond
to the question, “What do I want my child to learn
at New City School?” The responses were fasci-
nating, most centering on self-confidence and love
of learning. What would your students’ parents
say?
Regardless of where your school is or what chal-
lenges it’s facing, I’m sure that everyone would
endorse certain outcomes beyond the three Rs.
Problem-solving and creativity would be on
most lists; so, too, would responsibility and good
behavior. I’d suggest that kindness is something
we should elicit and support, and I believe that
schools should be measured on their “smile quo-
tient.” Anyone walking in the halls or visiting
classrooms should notice that both children and
adults are enjoying learning. These are important
life skills, and their presence will have an
enormous impact on students’ success, however
that is defined. We know this, but too often we
Thomas R. Hoerr