Bias for Action
Teacher evaluations – hot and controversial topic, right?
As much as we would like to think that teachers are “lying around the pool and eating bon-bons” during their summer “off”, that is not true at all!
It is a story made up by non-teachers who are not happy (or even jealous!) that teachers are not in their classrooms during the summer like they have to be in their office or on the job during summer months.
Well, I am here to tell you that most teachers I know (and there have been literally thousands of them over my long career!) are attending PD workshops, learning and growing their craft.
Or they are writing curriculum and creating “new and improved” initiatives to implement as mandated by the district or state.
Even if teachers were lounging by the pool and consuming French chocolates, their minds are still wandering and reflecting on events from the past school year and how they are going to try to finally get that dopamine hit and validating feedback of “innovating” or “outstanding” or “exceed expectations” or whatever the highest level is called on the rubric.
So, as I was lounging by the pool with my oh-là-là luscious chocolate companions (lol!), I struck up a conversation with my husband on the topic.
My mental musing about employee evaluations and how differently employees are evaluated in the business world as opposed to teachers in an educational system led to an interesting conversation and new perspective.
For teachers nowadays, of course we all know about Marzano and Danielson and terms like domain, rubrics, reliability, strategies, reflection, collaboration, professionalism, etc.
In the business world, they use terms like performance, review, conduct, leadership, achievement, communication, etc.
My husband brought up a term that his company (based in Germany) used:
Bias for Action
I had no idea what he meant by that, and so I asked.
He said that the company wanted to know what the employee’s bias was for taking action to do the job and invest in the outcome.
*Were they a problem-solver and resource manager?
*Were they willing to reach out to others for help and collaboration?
*Were they easily distracted and off-task?
*Were they reliable, resilient and able to work past obstacles?
*Were they “lazy” and just tried to do the least amount of work possible to get by?
Just the fact that they called them “reviews” and “key performance indicators” (KPIs) felt more positive and not like a “gotcha”.
I have to say that under the business model “review” that my husband’s company used, every teacher I know would be off the charts as “highly effective”.
In fact, I don’t even know what the category could be…”stellar”? “change maker”? “life maker”? “magician”?
I think about the term “bias for action”, and it reminds me more of Carol Dweck’s “Growth Mindset” model.
Go back and re-read the sentences above with the * in front of them.
How much do they resonate in your heart and soul?
Don’t we need more “bias for action” in people these days?
Nobody wants to get involved.
It’s not my job.
I’m not responsible for that.
And so on…
So, all my teacher friends lounging by the pool right now, Isn’t that a great term…bias for action?
Wouldn’t you love to use that in student progress reports, report cards, parent conferences, etc.?
“Dear Parent of Johnny or Sally: Your child’s bias for action is in the lowest 25% of the students in their class. Needs improvement and your support as it is key to their learning journey and subsequent success in life.”
The end!
Mike drop…cue reel of every teacher’s dream come true!
Image credit:
“Take Action Now” by canale666 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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