Pennies and Pounds

You've got to focus on the right small stuff to make a difference

I’ve yet to meet anyone in education who doesn’t want the best for the kids. Where things tend to diverge is in how people judge the kids are being successful.

The ‘traditional’ way is to look at output as a measure. This tells us how well something is done - how able a student is (well, under the conditions in which the assessment was made).

But what it doesn’t tell us is how someone felt about doing it - how willing they are to do something.

Does this matter?

I think it does. In fact, when it comes to students, I think it matters more than how well they do something.

Smata @smata_app

This article from the OECD is inspiring us this week, although we'd argue it isn't just applicable in the early years! "the link between social-emotional skills and future success and well-being will likely strengthen over the coming decades"

bit.lyIs curiosity a key to better early learning? - OECD Education and Skills TodayNew OECD data reveal the link between social-emotional skills of five-year-olds and their early cognitive development

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“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”¹

It doesn’t really matter how well someone can do something, like read, if they don’t want to do it when they get the choice.

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So why are we so focused with how well a kid can do something - how ‘able’ they are? In New Zealand, that’s what the National Standards were all about, isn’t it. As far as I can see, most primary schools have held on to that thinking. It’s a real shame.

I’ve yet to find many schools that truly care about how willing students are to do things. And when I say truly care, I mean they collect data about willingness and the teachers are guided by that data.

Does this matter, really? Isn’t it all a bit ‘soft’ to worry about how willing kids feel? Isn’t all this letting kids choose a bunch of nonsense? Don’t kids need to realise, sooner rather than later, that the thing that counts in this world is doing what you don’t want to do, when someone tells you to, and doing it bloody well?

Hmmm. (And don’t we have robots for that?)

We’ve been told that we need to lift achievement. We’ve been told that standards need to rise in the ‘basics’. We’ve had 10 years of kids being drilled and assessed.

And yet, this …

“NZ’s proportion of poor readers increased from 14% in 2000 to 17% in 2015. Proportion of high performing readers declined from 19% to 14%.”²

In New Zealand we now have more poor readers and fewer high performing readers.

Wasn’t focusing on achievement and ‘raising standards’ meant to lead in the other direction?

And also, this …

“There has been a decline in reading for enjoyment in New Zealand. More students said they read only if they have to and read less often”³

Only read if they have to!

In other words, they can, but won’t.

Is it at all possible there’s at least a correlation here? Can we go so far as to say there’s a causation?

Because it looks to me that by focusing exclusively on getting kids able to read, and neglecting to foster their willingness to read, we’ve got a Mark Twain situation on our hands.

Here’s a conclusion for you:

• Neglect willingness and you weaken ability.

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the intent of the focus on raising standards.

Can the inverse be true?

• Foster willingness and you strengthen ability.

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I know you’re under a ton of pressure from leadership, your board, and some whānau. But all this narrative about whether a kid can read is just cat nip for adults and also, if the data is to be believed, no good for the kids.

But, to challenge the narrative you need data. However, you need the right kind of data so you can focus on the right things. You need data about willingness.

Try this simple exercise:

• Get your roll. Put a tick next to every kid who is a willing reader. Count it up. There’s your baseline data.

• Think about how you can increase that number. Base your literacy practice for the term on it.⁴

• At the end of the term, put a tick next to every kid who is a willing reader. Count it up. There’s your summative data.

• Turn that data into a graph.⁵

• Show your leaders the data. Ask them what they think.

Here’s what I know. Willing should be the pennies. Able, the pounds.

Look after the pennys. The other stuff will look after itself.

1. Mark Twain.

2. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/196626/PISA-2018-Reading-in-New-Zealand.pdf

3. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling2/large-scale-international-assessments/pisa-2018-reading-in-new-zealand

4. Which means that you are going to have to create conditions that allow students to choose. And, you’ll need to notice willingness.

5. The SMATA app can build that graph for you in real time. Get in touch to find out how.