Schooling and business people share core behavior patterns to complete assignments with limited resources that yield a measured bottom line.
I suggest that comparing schooling with business practices provides an external validity check for schooling practices. In turn, teachers can use business practices daily as a way to determine the extent to which their students progress toward minimum state standards/requirements.
Here’s another example to add to those in Raising High School GPAs.
Both teachers and painters make estimates of what they and others must do in order for students to earn an “A” for a class or painters to stain a house. Both estimate time, materials, and profit to gain a performance contract from a student or client. Here’s how I’ve used these ideas with elementary and university classes, including with soon-to-be-teacher preparation faculty.
I tell students these things the first time the class meets; these statements supplement each class syllabus. Together, they spell out terms of the implicit contract that specifies what the class will cost each student (in time, effort, etc.) in order to earn a top grade:
1. Announce that everyone enrolled in class starts with a final grade of “A.” That grade equals superior performance. Each student must then earn a lower grade by not meeting expectations for lessons. (I used regular 90-100 points for superior performance of elementary school students. For university students, the only generally agreed upon superior performance still is having an article accepted for publication in a peer reviewed journal, proceedings, or book.)
2. Distribute final exam. For pre-college classes, today I would distribute the part of the final exam that addresses state minimum requirements. A 100% would translate into a “C” grade. Would distribute the other part on exam day for students to maintain their “A” grade. For university students, they can take it as many times as they want with whatever prompts they want and turn it in by final exam day. I assume adults more than children decide what they will demonstrate they have learned, regardless of what a professor does.
3. Announce the pace required to keep the A grade, i.e., calculate this in front of class: total number of scheduled class minutes + total number of homework assignment minutes + (expected number of minutes for average reader at 100 words per minute to read each assigned book each week x number of weeks) / number of state minimum standards = time available across all class assignments per minimum requirement. In general, no time for teacher or students to slough off.
A Tablet PC instruction management software could assist teachers with these estimates in schools the same way a house painter or automobile technician use book values to calculate customer costs.
Teachers make such estimates implicitly in order to make sure they can fulfill minimum state standards and have time left for other assignments they consider important to cover. These suggestions offer ways to make explicit what it will cost a student to earn a superior grade in their classes.
I like Tablet PCs in schooling, because they help to automate part of these estimations and related processes.
I wonder how other teachers handle these estimates with students?
Isn’t it great to know that teachers perform some of the same core behavior patterns as people in other occupations?
More common business and schooling behavior patterns later.