After several days of brain-wringing over the implications of the death of bell curve evaluations, I have caught a dose of Bo Adams’ “What If” series, flavored by constant reminders of how effective our species is at “getting ‘er done” when we interact with purpose. And add a big dollop of “I never have enough [...]
Yesterday’s NPR report on the research by O’Boyle and Aguinis regarding the potential death of the bell curve standard has already started to provoke important conversation. Yesterday I took a first stab at how this research might impact how we view student performance and the structure of classes and assessment. Those are huge topics that [...]
A new study may disprove the bell curve. For educators, both those who teach and assess students and those who care about the ability of our intuitions to innovate, these findings may have epic implications. Today I will focus on the potential impact on student learning; tomorrow I will try to catch up with thoughts [...]
Yesterday Steve Blank posted a humorous example of innovation killing-by-committee titled “Why Innovation Dies”. I want to expand on several key points as they specifically relate to our educational institutions. Why? We tend to think of ourselves as foundries of ideas and creativity, when in fact we tend to be largely inert. If we are [...]
Seth Godin last week: “When smart people who care get frustrated, something is wrong.” I had a discussion the other day that should be a wake-up call, if not a bone-chiller, to school leaders. I have started talking to a lot of teachers and administrators about how we can leverage collaboration to more quickly embed [...]
This morning San Diego Unified School District announced they will buy and distribute $15 million in iPads next year. This follows implementation of a district-wide netbook rollout in middle schools three years ago, all paid for by bond proceeds approved by taxpayers. In the article in this morning’s San Diego Union Tribune district officials describe [...]
Polly LaBarre in her MIX blog reports on the incredibly flat management structure at Morning Star, a highly successful major American food grower and processor. All employees in the company develop and sign a Colleague Letter of Understanding (CLOU) in which each person defines their personal job outline and how it relates to the organizational [...]
Bo Adams, in his incredible blog series 60-60-60 refers to the idea of The Ten Commandments and asks: Wouldn’t it be interesting to engage in a faculty exercise of recording ten such expectations, one each on a Post-it note, and affinity mapping the commonality and differences among a school’s tribe of practitioners? Shouldn’t we have [...]
Steve Denning at Forbes.com wrote an article about Valve, a high-tech company with a unique organizational chart: there are no managers. Everyone is free to choose what project to work on. They are green-lighted to risk and fail. They are expected to be creative and use that creativity. It is messy, chaotic, and very successful. [...]
First, thanks to all who have started to follow my blog. I will try to mine important sources that are helpful and might be outside your radar screen. If you find these posts useful, please pass along the blog link to members of your PLC, PLN, Critical Friends Group, or department. Hopefully some of the [...]