our education system in the United
States is not working to its fullest
potential we’ve all heard the statistics
concerning where the United States
stands when compared to the rest of the
world the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development states that
in their last study that the United
States ranks 36th in the world in
reading 23rd in math and 23rd in science
now these results may seem staggering to
you because they are to me and it’s not
to say that it’s not because of funding
the United States actually ranks fourth
in the world in funding per student we
also know that it’s not the teachers we
have some of the most dedicated teachers
in the world I know because I’m married
to one I know the countless hours she
spends every night spending time on
trying to figure out how to best reach
her students it’s not to say that
there’s no room for improvement in
teacher education or that we can’t
recruit our best and our brightest to
the teaching profession we also can’t
just blame the students so if these
aren’t the problems with the education
then what is and what can we do about it
in order for us to understand where we
need to go perhaps we need to rethink
where we came from prior to the
Industrial Revolution education was
localized to the one-room schoolhouse
where all students of all ages were
mixed together teachers had to meet the
needs of every student in the classroom
now admittedly this may not be the best
solution all right but there are some
ideas that may be worth us getting back
to then the Industrial Revolution
occurred Henry Ford used an assembly
line to speed up manufacturing which
created a need for more
workers that had to move to industrial
centers consequently education changed
as well the Industrial Age saw the rise
of the factory assembly line increased
efficiency and created a system in which
management aimed at keeping workers
submissive and controlled this model was
then applied to k-12 education and
eventually to higher education today
education continues to follow the same
model of teaching and learning one in
which students are controlled education
is an assembly line and the results are
determined by the modern-day equivalent
of quality control the standardized test
students in k-12 education move from one
grade to the next meeting standards as
they go much like quality control in an
assembly line at the end of the journey
they’re given a piece of paper that says
that they’ve met minimum standards it’s
a completely linear system but what does
that mean and what are we really doing
are we actually ensuring that students
master material that they maximize their
achievement that they reach their full
potential the answer simple no why are
we stuck in this state of education
because we still build our education
systems on Industrial Age assumptions we
assume that schools are run by
specialists who want to maintain control
that knowledge is inherently fragmented
and that schools communicate the truth
and that learning is primarily
individualistic and competition actually
accelerates learning these assumptions
in this model of education does not work
and we can do better how can we change
this what can we do we can embrace
something called systems thinking
systems thinking is the belief that an
organization
is a system meaning that there are
organizational properties and an
interrelated whole the application of
systems thinking in an academic setting
allows administration to gain an
understanding of the components in a
system that have complex relationships
and that they cannot be understood
through the study of the individual
parts Systems thinking arises from the
biological sciences and states that
studying the individual components fails
to understand the emergent properties of
the whole educational institutions
should be viewed as living organisms in
that there are properties in that
institution and the services that are
provided to students that can’t be
isolated to one component systems
thinking includes interconnectedness an
idea that states that an organization is
seen as a complex group of processes
that relate to each other and affect
each other schools are complex systems
and a change in one area can have
sweeping impacts on the rest of the
system interconnection is it is ignored
because of the structure of Education
instead of individualizing plans for
students and creating an atmosphere
where students master core concepts
before moving on to other concepts we
just test students and move them along
the assembly line if they fail to master
a concept we do little to close that
achievement gap rather it’s assumed that
they’ll catch up later on take math as
an example when a student in the fourth
grade is learning math they’re learning
multiplication and division but what
happens if they still have have problems
with basic addition what if on those
previous tests that they scored an 80%
they didn’t master that material but we
just push them on to harder material but
hey as long as they’re men
only proficient on those standardized
exams then the district must be doing
their job and we can move them along
this assembly line system theories also
uses something called reinforcing
processes this reinforcing processes
leads to feedback that either directly
leads to growth or decline this can be
seen in schools where a small change in
one area has a large change in another
area the intended or unintended
consequences of these changes continue
to amplify a potentially negative result
year after year the last kind of bit of
boring theory is that of causal loops
the utilization of causal loops in
education allows administration to move
away from this linear thought process it
helps them move away and recognize that
systems are circular that we stop
believing that X only affects Y rather X
affects Y and Y affects X continuously
they continuously affect each other and
affect other areas as well but this
doesn’t address the real problem in k-12
education and how it can be changed the
real problem is not the students or the
teachers rather the real problem is in
our management of Education it lies in
how administration currently views
education how problems are addressed and
how solutions are framed in the case of
problem-solving in education systems
thinking forces administration’s to
examine all of the aspects of their
organization with an understanding that
each component relates to every other
component take for example the case of a
school district that saw a massive
decline in graduation rates the district
had just passed a levy and the citizens
were outraged the administration reacted
by trying to figure out what went wrong
at the high school level they actually
tried to solve the problem at the high
school level and where could they throw
them
at the high school level but after
looking at the district as a system what
they found out was something fascinating
when they looked at the classes that had
low graduation rates what they
discovered is that the students who
failed to graduate missed a large amount
of school in the third grade now why was
that important because in the third
grade is when we transition from
learning to read to reading to learn
these students failed to master that
skill of reading to learn and this
deficiency followed them throughout
their education it had nothing to do
with what happened in high school but
rather what happened in elementary
school it was only discovered after they
viewed the system or viewed the
educational system as a system and we
saw what happens in third grade effects
what happens in high school when
administration treats the educational
system as a complex system and not a
linear assembly line real change can be
made the process of examining all the
components of a school system creates an
environment in which systems and
themselves examine the problems in a
global aspect and not as isolated events
no longer would districts be seen as
buildings separated by grade and age but
rather the district would be seen as an
organism where each component affects
every other component what happens in
the elementary building would have a
direct impact on what happens in the
high school changing the curriculum in
the middle school would have a direct
impact on what is expected of a
kindergarten teacher a school district
and more importantly school
administration would therefore view
problems as an issue with the whole
organism and not only one portion of the
organization so how can administration
make this change it could start by
bringing together
teachers to create a unified curriculum
across school districts to be bold and
no longer grouped students by age but
rather by progress administration could
see achievement gaps as something to
close and not something to explain away
we must also stop isolating components
and treating education as that linear
assembly line rather we could understand
that each component in a district
affects all the others the arts
academics extracurricular activities
even athletics if we start treating
schools like a system we’ll begin to
treat schools as a web of social
relationships where teachers and parents
and students and friends and family will
explore how to integrate diverse
subjects into meaningful experiences and
will continuously reflect upon the
educational theories that we use we’ll
begin to realize that when schools are
actually treated as living systems then
they’re constantly evolving when a
district takes a systems thinking
approach the entire district views
problems and outcomes differently poor
test scores may be seen as more of a
result than only what happens in the
classroom but also what happens at home
and in the community and that it will
recognize the intangibles that every
student uniquely brings to their class
clearly an isolated view of the problems
fails to yield a globalization of
thought that systems thinking advocates
there’s clearly a problem in k-12
education when we rank in the middle but
spend almost more than any other country
per student a basic understanding of
systems thinking and systems theory and
its principles and concepts could be the
catalyst for change in k-12 education we
have to stop seeing students as products
of a machine not all students learn in
the same way or at the same pace we also
must stop
allowing administrators and those who
make decisions to make policy that is
reactionary rather viewing education as
a system forces administrators to look
deeper and create solutions that address
not just the problem but also the cause
of the problem and they develop an
appreciation that there’s a deep
connection between everything involved
in a district the use of systems
thinking is a possible method that can
close the overall achievement gap and an
individual students achievement gap but
it can’t just be a result of a talk like
this right it it has to be take brave
leaders who want to create sustained
change and who want to lead rather than
protect a system that isn’t working
thank you [Applause]
States is not working to its fullest
potential we’ve all heard the statistics
concerning where the United States
stands when compared to the rest of the
world the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development states that
in their last study that the United
States ranks 36th in the world in
reading 23rd in math and 23rd in science
now these results may seem staggering to
you because they are to me and it’s not
to say that it’s not because of funding
the United States actually ranks fourth
in the world in funding per student we
also know that it’s not the teachers we
have some of the most dedicated teachers
in the world I know because I’m married
to one I know the countless hours she
spends every night spending time on
trying to figure out how to best reach
her students it’s not to say that
there’s no room for improvement in
teacher education or that we can’t
recruit our best and our brightest to
the teaching profession we also can’t
just blame the students so if these
aren’t the problems with the education
then what is and what can we do about it
in order for us to understand where we
need to go perhaps we need to rethink
where we came from prior to the
Industrial Revolution education was
localized to the one-room schoolhouse
where all students of all ages were
mixed together teachers had to meet the
needs of every student in the classroom
now admittedly this may not be the best
solution all right but there are some
ideas that may be worth us getting back
to then the Industrial Revolution
occurred Henry Ford used an assembly
line to speed up manufacturing which
created a need for more
workers that had to move to industrial
centers consequently education changed
as well the Industrial Age saw the rise
of the factory assembly line increased
efficiency and created a system in which
management aimed at keeping workers
submissive and controlled this model was
then applied to k-12 education and
eventually to higher education today
education continues to follow the same
model of teaching and learning one in
which students are controlled education
is an assembly line and the results are
determined by the modern-day equivalent
of quality control the standardized test
students in k-12 education move from one
grade to the next meeting standards as
they go much like quality control in an
assembly line at the end of the journey
they’re given a piece of paper that says
that they’ve met minimum standards it’s
a completely linear system but what does
that mean and what are we really doing
are we actually ensuring that students
master material that they maximize their
achievement that they reach their full
potential the answer simple no why are
we stuck in this state of education
because we still build our education
systems on Industrial Age assumptions we
assume that schools are run by
specialists who want to maintain control
that knowledge is inherently fragmented
and that schools communicate the truth
and that learning is primarily
individualistic and competition actually
accelerates learning these assumptions
in this model of education does not work
and we can do better how can we change
this what can we do we can embrace
something called systems thinking
systems thinking is the belief that an
organization
is a system meaning that there are
organizational properties and an
interrelated whole the application of
systems thinking in an academic setting
allows administration to gain an
understanding of the components in a
system that have complex relationships
and that they cannot be understood
through the study of the individual
parts Systems thinking arises from the
biological sciences and states that
studying the individual components fails
to understand the emergent properties of
the whole educational institutions
should be viewed as living organisms in
that there are properties in that
institution and the services that are
provided to students that can’t be
isolated to one component systems
thinking includes interconnectedness an
idea that states that an organization is
seen as a complex group of processes
that relate to each other and affect
each other schools are complex systems
and a change in one area can have
sweeping impacts on the rest of the
system interconnection is it is ignored
because of the structure of Education
instead of individualizing plans for
students and creating an atmosphere
where students master core concepts
before moving on to other concepts we
just test students and move them along
the assembly line if they fail to master
a concept we do little to close that
achievement gap rather it’s assumed that
they’ll catch up later on take math as
an example when a student in the fourth
grade is learning math they’re learning
multiplication and division but what
happens if they still have have problems
with basic addition what if on those
previous tests that they scored an 80%
they didn’t master that material but we
just push them on to harder material but
hey as long as they’re men
only proficient on those standardized
exams then the district must be doing
their job and we can move them along
this assembly line system theories also
uses something called reinforcing
processes this reinforcing processes
leads to feedback that either directly
leads to growth or decline this can be
seen in schools where a small change in
one area has a large change in another
area the intended or unintended
consequences of these changes continue
to amplify a potentially negative result
year after year the last kind of bit of
boring theory is that of causal loops
the utilization of causal loops in
education allows administration to move
away from this linear thought process it
helps them move away and recognize that
systems are circular that we stop
believing that X only affects Y rather X
affects Y and Y affects X continuously
they continuously affect each other and
affect other areas as well but this
doesn’t address the real problem in k-12
education and how it can be changed the
real problem is not the students or the
teachers rather the real problem is in
our management of Education it lies in
how administration currently views
education how problems are addressed and
how solutions are framed in the case of
problem-solving in education systems
thinking forces administration’s to
examine all of the aspects of their
organization with an understanding that
each component relates to every other
component take for example the case of a
school district that saw a massive
decline in graduation rates the district
had just passed a levy and the citizens
were outraged the administration reacted
by trying to figure out what went wrong
at the high school level they actually
tried to solve the problem at the high
school level and where could they throw
them
at the high school level but after
looking at the district as a system what
they found out was something fascinating
when they looked at the classes that had
low graduation rates what they
discovered is that the students who
failed to graduate missed a large amount
of school in the third grade now why was
that important because in the third
grade is when we transition from
learning to read to reading to learn
these students failed to master that
skill of reading to learn and this
deficiency followed them throughout
their education it had nothing to do
with what happened in high school but
rather what happened in elementary
school it was only discovered after they
viewed the system or viewed the
educational system as a system and we
saw what happens in third grade effects
what happens in high school when
administration treats the educational
system as a complex system and not a
linear assembly line real change can be
made the process of examining all the
components of a school system creates an
environment in which systems and
themselves examine the problems in a
global aspect and not as isolated events
no longer would districts be seen as
buildings separated by grade and age but
rather the district would be seen as an
organism where each component affects
every other component what happens in
the elementary building would have a
direct impact on what happens in the
high school changing the curriculum in
the middle school would have a direct
impact on what is expected of a
kindergarten teacher a school district
and more importantly school
administration would therefore view
problems as an issue with the whole
organism and not only one portion of the
organization so how can administration
make this change it could start by
bringing together
teachers to create a unified curriculum
across school districts to be bold and
no longer grouped students by age but
rather by progress administration could
see achievement gaps as something to
close and not something to explain away
we must also stop isolating components
and treating education as that linear
assembly line rather we could understand
that each component in a district
affects all the others the arts
academics extracurricular activities
even athletics if we start treating
schools like a system we’ll begin to
treat schools as a web of social
relationships where teachers and parents
and students and friends and family will
explore how to integrate diverse
subjects into meaningful experiences and
will continuously reflect upon the
educational theories that we use we’ll
begin to realize that when schools are
actually treated as living systems then
they’re constantly evolving when a
district takes a systems thinking
approach the entire district views
problems and outcomes differently poor
test scores may be seen as more of a
result than only what happens in the
classroom but also what happens at home
and in the community and that it will
recognize the intangibles that every
student uniquely brings to their class
clearly an isolated view of the problems
fails to yield a globalization of
thought that systems thinking advocates
there’s clearly a problem in k-12
education when we rank in the middle but
spend almost more than any other country
per student a basic understanding of
systems thinking and systems theory and
its principles and concepts could be the
catalyst for change in k-12 education we
have to stop seeing students as products
of a machine not all students learn in
the same way or at the same pace we also
must stop
allowing administrators and those who
make decisions to make policy that is
reactionary rather viewing education as
a system forces administrators to look
deeper and create solutions that address
not just the problem but also the cause
of the problem and they develop an
appreciation that there’s a deep
connection between everything involved
in a district the use of systems
thinking is a possible method that can
close the overall achievement gap and an
individual students achievement gap but
it can’t just be a result of a talk like
this right it it has to be take brave
leaders who want to create sustained
change and who want to lead rather than
protect a system that isn’t working
thank you [Applause]
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