The Power is in the People, not the Program!

As I move through my career in education I am becoming increasingly convinced that "program" is a four letter word. Nobody is to blame for this specifically...it is just how we, as educators, have been conditioned to talk about the various content areas we expose children to everyday. Go ahead, try it... ask a teacher about Math or Science or Reading. Oftentimes they quickly say, "In my district we use Math in Focus or Investigations or Everyday Math."

The same goes for many areas of education such as assessment, grading and evaluation. We talk about these items in terms of labels, terms and jargon. Take reading levels, for examples... we certainly know that a child is more than a "Level G" reader and that within that label lies a host of complex descriptors, behaviors and cognitive processes that are summed up in to a single letter. Certainly there is a reason and a purpose for this... efficiency! Yet, in my mind, there is also a danger in this as well.

Perhaps one of my more infamous Finchisms or sayings is that "the Power is in the People, and not the Program." As an advocate for children, teachers and education as a whole, I think we inadvertently undermine our expertise, our potential for influence, and our professionalism when we defer to the curricular or instructional resources (i.e. programs) as the definitive source or measure for student learning. John Hattie highlighted my point in his groundbreaking research listing effect sizes for influence on student achievement. In his findings, teacher-student relationships ranked higher than most specific curricular or instructional approaches included in his research. Amongst other strong correlative influences are teacher quality and teacher estimates of achievement for students. Time and again we continue to reinforce something we have known for decades, in fact something we print on coffee mugs and canvas bags each May for Teacher Appreciation Week...Teachers make a Difference! Though, perhaps, the saying should be amended to "Teachers make the Difference."

So why is this so important? In this age of educational accountability, I worry that it is far too easy for educators to lose sight of just how powerful and influential they are when it comes to student achievement. Professional dialogue can easily become saturated with calls for new and better programs to address student needs, when building stronger rapport and relationships will do more for those needs than any program or resource. We are also faced with so much testing and data to "drive" decision-making that we can easily forget that in the end, it is the people who make the decision - not the data. In the end, I worry we might lose sight of who we are as educators and just how important it is for us to remember the awesome obligation and responsibility we have to provide our very best to students each and everyday.

Without a doubt, teaching is some of the most complex work a person can do. There are a million influences and factors that a student brings into the classroom everyday multiplied by twenty more students carrying their own unique set of circumstances. In the end, no program can help to untangle these issues. It takes a high quality, committed teacher to know just how to use the tricks and resources she has at her fingertips to craft that "just right" experience and bring the child one step forward in his or her growth.

As educational leaders, I think we share an obligation to remember that the power is in our people and not in the programs we offer. Whether you read Marzano, Collins, or Schmoker (to name a few) the evidence exists to shift our rhetoric and our paradigms from one about programs back to one about teacher quality, teacher expertise, and student experience.

The Power is in the People, not the Program! - Finch