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FriedmanNicholas KristofPaul KrugmanJoe NoceraThe Opinion PagesfacebooktwitterpinterestemailGive TeachersAutonomySamuel A. Culbert, a professor in the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the author of GetRid of the Performance Review! How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing and Focus on What Really Matters.Updated March 28, 2011, 10:37 AMThe best way to raise the status of teachers and teaching is to do the opposite of what so many cities and states are doing now: taking awayincentives for the best and brightest to go into teaching.Keep politics out of education, and don't let the principal pick and choose the best teachers.The way to make stars out of teachers is to let teachers be stars, to let them be as innovative as they can be, to let them find the path thatworks best for them and their students. If they are allowed to search for the best answers, theyll find them.Instead, were doing the opposite: were telling them that if they want to keep their jobs, they have to do what people who know so muchless than they do about education tell them to do. They have to dance to some constantly changing, politically created tune that isguaranteed to leave them demoralized and their students floundering.In New York, as echoed in so many places, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has advocated changing state law, which now requires the city tolay-off teachers in the reverse order they were hired. Mr. Bloomberg wants to factor merit into that process.On the surface it sounds like a no-brainer. But thats exactly what it is, a statement that has no brain power behind it. For one thing, whenyou get rid of security, the idea of being a teacher becomes a lot less attractive, and the quality of teachers you can recruit decreases.But more important, whenever you give the boss the principal the latitude to pick and choose the best teachers, youre guaranteed tomake things worse. The principal will do what any biased boss does: pick the teachers who are best for him or her. By giving principalssuch authority, you take away the independent voice of the teachers; theyll be parroting whatever they think their principal wants themto do, instead of suggesting improvements that would benefit their students. Their sucking-up to the principal becomes more importantthan what takes place in the classroom. And the students will be the losers.The bigger point is that the metrics by which they will be judged dont speak to the issue. In fact, we dont know the right metrics, in partbecause politics keeps getting in the way. Sometimes its the best teachers, whatever that means. Sometimes, its test scores. Sometimesits that we need well-rounded or free-thinking kids. Who knows? But I can tell you one thing, it isnt what a self-interested principaldetermines.Instead, the goal should be to figure out what metrics makes the most sense for any individual student -- free of political interference. Thenteachers should be encouraged to teach each student in a way that the teacher feels most effectively moves each individual student towardthe metrics -- free of the fear that the metrics will change with the next season, free of intimidation by a principal who could fire them atany minute if the principal doesnt like them. Do that and you accomplish two things. First, you let principals do their job; setting the stagefor unique teachers to do their unique bests. And second, youll get the best teachers you can get, and theyll become the stars they deserveto be.Topics: Education, students, teachersPrevious Improve Teacher TrainingKati Haycock Next Supply and DemandLance T. Izumi26 CommentsShare your thoughts.Share your thoughts.All26Readers Picks14NewesttwkoppusaNaselle, WA 5 April 2011The comments regarding how it is in the "real" world of business assume a sale they haven't made. The argument seems to be that inAmerican business, we consistently and correctly reward great achievers and punish poor performers. There is far less evidence thatAmerican companies are well managed than there is that American schools are failing. If American businesses are so successful andtalented in finding and rewarding the best and brightest, what happened on Wall street in the last five years? Why are we in such a longand lingering recession if our best minds are in charge of the economic system? If business is the perfect model for school reform, why areso many well qualified Americans looking for work while less qualified workers in other countries do the jobs they used to have? TheseAmericans did their jobs well. There was simply nothing to protect them from the profiteers who stole what was good and working fromthese communities in pursuit of cheaper labor and management bonuses. Don't come at me with your righteous rants about how teachersneed to learn about the real world of private business; we live its consquences with our students every day. You want a discussion aboutwhat's wrong with education today, don't look at hard working teachers and their hard working students. Look at the poverty we toleratewhile we spend billions on war and billions on bailouts and tax cuts for the very wealthy. The funding crisis has more to do with thegrowing inequity in our county's distribution of wealth than it does with the meager salaries, benefits, and pensions of teachers and otherdedicated public servants. I'll stand with my union and fight for sensible reforms the really help students learn.FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterRide-The-Pendulum-TeacherNew York 30 March 2011Very sensible!FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitterbadgolfer1974NY 30 March 2011Post #12, I don't disagree that students evaluations can be very useful, but should be do the same for elementary students? Not sure if a 10year old can, though I can be convinced. One thing though, I know that there were certain teachers (and classes) that I couldn't stand inhigh school, but look back now and think I'm glad the teacher pushed me so hard, and that I learned a lot. I may not have appreciated herback then...FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterPaulNorthville, MI 29 March 2011As a former student, and now a concerned parent, it's simply amazing to me that everybody overlooks the most obvious resource to helpanswer the question "Who's a good teacher and who needs improvement?" Why not just ask the students? They know better thaneveryone else. Forget the useless peer-review conducted (maybe) once per semester. Ask the kids that either enjoy or, in some case, endure the class on adaily basis. In this difficult economic climate, name a business that isn't surveying its customers for ways to improve their product or service. Howmany websites ask visitors to complete a survey to help them improve the experience? In this context, someone please explain to me whywe're not talking to the students in similar fashion? A few panelists in this article have decried a system that treats teachers like cogs in a machine. How do you think the students feel? Ifyou're going to encourage creativity and engagement for the teachers, how about considering the other half of the teaching experience? Please don't tell me the students won't be objective or constructive. At university, I was obligated to evaluate every professor and teachingassistant at the end of each semester. Why was I suddenly qualified to do so at age 18 but not at, say, age 16? It's ridiculous. As an athletic coach, I've seen repeatedly the truth of the following statement: If you want children to start acting like adultsthen treat them like adults.FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwittercnevinVermont 29 March 2011Yes.FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterJonHouston 29 March 2011I don't understand. Are the difference viewpoints being spoonfed to us in hopes that we will realize "Oh! The solution is ALL these thingscombined" or do the individual authors REALLY think their 1 dimensional ideas are the solution? If this is the case then i'm on board withVern. What do I think? 1. Raise pay 2. Teacher-created curriculums 3. Getting rid of the teacher-is-responsible-for-SATs idea and all policiesthat stem from it. There job is to teach. Let them teach what they want and raise the pay. Seriously is this a hard problem? AM I TAKINGCRAZY PILLS?FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twittermoonvirgony 29 March 20111) This writer simply demonizes the principal instead of the teacher. 2) Good teachers don't necessarily make good principals and viceversa. 3) IT TAKES A VILLAGE. How is it just 10 years since those words were echoed that we have forgotten this extremely true caveat.FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitterbadgolfer1974NY 29 March 2011I agree with post #12 about making teaching a real profession. It isn't currently, and the way the author Culbert seems to argue is just togive current teachers autonomy! Truthfully, many current and especially new teachers CANNOT handle the autonomy (due to anemiceducation training, professional development and support). They're just not trained well enough, and that is why the profession needsmore rigor, support, etc. Just giving teachers that freedom now would be disastrous.Once the profession has been, well professionalized(like the medical and legal), then they will have true authority and autonomy that no outsider can take away. The prestige, money, etc. willall come with it eventually. Build it, and they will come.FlagReplyRecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterRichardClaremont,CA 29 March 2011There is something juvenile and old school social science in this writers caricaturistic representation of the relationships and powerpolitics that underpin the success of any school site. He like so many others fails to grasp the essentiality and irreducibility of schoolpolitics. From Aristotle, who pronounced us fundamentally political animals (zoos politikon) to the late Peter Drucker who warned ofworking anywhere there was no politics", the lesson as big as history is that you cannot get the politics out of cooperative human effort. Culberts hand waving aside, the political issue comes down to this; can we or can we not judge if a teacher is adding or subtracting froman individual students progress? Of course we can, and to do so will require many a gored ox. But this progress cannot be judged on whata teacher feels, which is what the writer naively advocates. If we cannot grade teachers, how can we grade students, which, after all, iswhat great teachers are? I take a point of view 180 degrees opposite this writer; give the principal the power to higher and fire, and soonenough teaching talent will swarm to the good ones. They bad ones, principals and teachers alike, should be cashiered.FlagReply2RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterspoiteColumbus, Ohio 29 March 2011Spot on! But it will be the most overlooked contribution of the whole lot.FlagReply1RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterJamesNew York 29 March 2011Some of the problems really are structural, and in my opinion Professor Culbert identifies these very clearly. Unlike business, whereambition alone can induce high performance, teaching requires actual commitment and a belief in what you do. Threatening teachers isonly likely to hobble their independence.But, as the somewhat wishy-washy ending of this piece starts to reveal, there are deeper cultural obstacles to improving education in theUnited States that are not as amenable to a clear mechanistic cure. I remember talking to a teacher in my high school about what hethought was the most important element of the practice of teaching. He explained that before you could even start talking about the bestmethod or approach for a given body of material, you had to answer the question, "why do I want the students to know this?"But, as some of the comments here clearly reveal, many adults really don't care about this any more. They have been trained to care aboutwhatever their paycheck requires them to care about, until they walk out the door and head home. That mindset will (hopefully) neverwork for children. They are much too alert and clear-eyed to be bamboozled by the B.S. that afflicts those charged with their education. Ifwe as adults can't figure out why we actually care-- whether our children learn, or what they learn--then we will never find the rightmethods of teaching.FlagReply1RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitterkarenbenicia CA 29 March 2011Great teachers genuinely like kids. but they cannot possibly like the naughty, disruptive, spoiled, (even law-breaking at the HS level-- drugsand alcohol) kids presently in their classrooms. These kids need to be removed from the classroom and not be brought back, so theteachers can teach effectively to the majority of good kids. If after this classroom adjustment, the teacher still cannot perform well, asmeasured by a variety of metrics ( principal evaluation, peer review, parent/teacher input, and yes...test results), then the teacher needs tobe counseled, retrained, and possibly redirected to another career. Until we address the serious discipline issues that permeate mostclassrooms from about 3rd grade on up, there is no way teachers can be fairly evaluated.FlagReply5RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterDaveMonroe NY 29 March 2011"On the surface it sounds like a no-brainer. For one thing, when you get rid of security, the idea of being a teacher becomes a lot lessattractive, and the quality of teachers you can recruit decreases."That is the nuttiest rationale I've read yet.Welcome to the real world of private industry! Is there guaranteed security for any non-union job in the private sector? Of course not. Andyet private industry is full of talented workers who value their work, and they are in turn valued by their employers.Sorry, after 34 years in private industry you will never convince me that teachers as a group aren't coddled complainers who hide behindthe seniority and tenure system.What do they need respect for? They already get the summers off, retire at 55, and have generous pension benefits that they averageprivate-sector worker can only dream of.FlagReply3RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterAdamBoston 29 March 2011The idea that teachers should have freedom is correct. The idea that teachers should be at risk of loosing their jobs if they don't deliver isalso correct.If the Principal fires good teachers you don't give the teachers immunity to loosing their job based on years in the job you fire the bloodyprincipal and hire another one (from among the senior teachers).Accountability in education doesn't stop with the K-12 classroom teacher. The more senior the more accountable you should be, right up tothe President of the USA...FlagReply1RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterTed MorganBaton Rouge 29 March 2011Make teaching a profession, indeed. Put teachers over principals and school administrators. Select teachers from the top of their cohorts.Make a degree in education something like an M.D., something one earns after a preliminary degree.FlagReply5RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterDougMassachusetts 29 March 2011The premise of this article is bizarre: that principals but not teachers are self-interested, that teachers but not principals want what's bestfor kids. There are good and bad teachers, just as there are good and bad principals. Neither job is immune from self-interest, and neitheris blind to their educative mission. To think that all teachers can simply be "encouraged" to help every student learn to their best ability,without being accountable, is to be willfully naive.FlagReply3RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitterfjnyc 29 March 2011Agreed with FingersCrossed: To suggest that teachers give up their "voice" to an imperious and arbitrary principal who only wants a bunchof yes-men in the building is ludicrous. Sounds like the professor has a chip on his shoulder against managers in general. I do too against bad managers, but good managers areout there as well.FlagReply1RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterFingersCrossedNew York 29 March 2011"On the surface it sounds like a no-brainer. But thats exactly what it is, a statement that has no brain power behind it. For one thing, whenyou get rid of security, the idea of being a teacher becomes a lot less attractive, and the quality of teachers you can recruit decreases." Assuming that is true, then how do companies in the private sector manage to recruit the best talent yet not offer much in the way of jobsecurity in return? It's balancing the risk against the reward. A young person will give up a degree of job security if it going to becounterbalanced with good pay AND the knowledge that if they perform at a high level, the reward will be even greater.The best way to guarantee job security as a teacher is to be an excellent teacher. If a successful teacher is getting the students to learn andthey are improving their academic performance, who in their right mind would get rid of a teacher like that? To suggest that somehowteachers give up their "voice" to an imperious and arbitrary principal who only wants a bunch of yes-men in the building is ludicrous. Anygood principal (i.e. manager) knows the value of getting the input from teachers (i.e. stakeholders) when major decisions need to be madeand will solicit their opinion when it's necessary. If a principal only wants people around who are going to tell him what he wants to hear,then I would suggest that it's time to look for a new principal.FlagReply12RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterRCis a trusted commenter Minnesota 29 March 2011I agree with this article. Historically, teaching was attractive not due to salary, but rather due to academic freedom and the respect of thecommunity. The taxpayers, students, and all of society would benefit from a return to this historical norm, which could be accompanied bythe elimination of high-paid "administrators". The same applies to higher-ed as well.FlagReply9RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterCassandra G.Novato, California 29 March 2011Blogger AK (#1) makes some excellent points. The first is that there is a discipline crisis in public schools today. Many public schooladministrators are loathe to do anything about the handful of disruptive students that make teaching so challenging and problematic.Often, these student are temporarily removed from the classroom, only to return the next day. And the next day, the behavior is repeated. After having taught high school for several years--and after substitute teaching for years thereafter--I can state that student misbehaviorwas my number one challenge. After a career in business, entering the world of education was both baffling and frustrating for me. Itwould seem logical that principals and vice-principals would be working in concert with teachers to support their efforts to teach. After all,administrators (at least the ones in our local school district) are paid handsomely. My own experiences, however, coupled with theexperiences of teachers in other school districts, confirmed that many administrators utterly fail to support their teachers. Disruptivestudents are viewed as the teacher's fault and demanding parents are, well, the price one pays to teach. Until classroom behavioralproblems are addressed and real remedies instituted, teachers will continue to struggle under the weight of a broken system.FlagReply19RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twittermelbay area 28 March 2011Yes. This is it. There needs to be non-subjective decision-making which takes into account the circumstances in each classroom in eachyear. That is the only way to properly evaluate teachers. Right now the principal has too much power and the evaluation is too political.FlagReply10RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterEarnest Education ObserverNJ 28 March 2011Wow - this reads like it was written by someone who knows how a school works. If I could distill it to the one word that pinpoints thebiggest problem facing education at this moment, it would be:Politics.FlagReply19RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitterbronxmathteachwashington heights, nyc 28 March 2011thank you for this wonderfully said and vitally important truth.FlagReply8RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterKyleElkhorn Slough, California Coast 28 March 2011I agreed with Mr. Culbert till the end, then he went back to some unnamed metric. The statement that introduces this conversation talksabout other countries. Well can we have a few commentators describe what teachers do, what their class sizes look like, what they getpaid, how many students they deal with (not just class size but number of classes), authority, autonomy etc. in these Counties?FlagReply6RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterB de St PhalleAlbuquerque, NM 28 March 2011Yes. Put the teachers in the driver's seat. See also Vernon Williams' piece.FlagReply18RecommendShare this comment on FacebookShare this comment on TwitterRead MoreHow to Raise the Status of TeachersAside from a pay increase, what are other ways of attracting high-quality educators? ReadMoreDebatersHow to Reform Compensation Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham InstituteDont Treat Them Like Widgets Timothy Daly, New Teacher ProjectLet Us Teach! Vern Williams, math teacherImprove Teacher Training Kati Haycock, The Education TrustAllow More Autonomy Samuel A. Culbert, author, "Get Rid of the Performance Review!"Supply and Demand Lance T. Izumi, Pacific Research InstituteMoney, Freedom and Growth Zeke Vanderhoek, charter school principalConsider Cultural Differences Patrick Welsh, retired English teacherRedesign the System Cynthia G. Brown, Center for American ProgressRelated DiscussionsWhen a Fictional Hero FallsHow will "To Kill a Mockingbird" be taught in U.S. schools given the revelations about Atticus Finch and his racism?The Benefits and Pressures of Being a Young GeniusIs being a child prodigy more of a blessing or a curse?Shady Schools, Serious DebtWho deserves student loan forgiveness when for-profit colleges close or are accused of fraud?Is Testing Students the Answer to America's Education Woes?Opinions on testing public schools students as a way to measure progress and as an accounting tool are varied, but are these examsworking?Be the first of your friends to like thisThe New York Times Opinion161k likes Like PageRecent Discussions Manna or Mammon in Silicon Valley? Are There Too Many G.O.P. Candidates? 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