Results Matter: Learning Matters More!

The results are in – they tell us a lot about our decisions, choices, and preferences. As we reflect, study, and unpack these results our decisions, choices, and preferences illuminate brightly. In several cases, the decisions, choices, and preferences were “spot” on – they resulted in student learning and achievement as envisioned. However, in far too many cases the decisions, choices, and preferences were, well, wrong!

On the surface, we can take the percentage of students that met or exceeded proficiency and conclude we made the right decisions about curriculum, instruction, and assessment. We can stretch our conclusion to include engagement, relevance, and rigor in our instructional methodology. Further, it is not unreasonable to include alignment, intentionality, focus, commitment, and effort as key actions underpinning our decision-making.

Diving under the surface, however, reveals inconsistency and in many cases incompetence. Inconsistency in the decisions, choices, and preferences by a significant number of educators albeit central office, building administration, or classroom teachers is a “just” conclusion of the results.

I would like to believe that we’ve shifted paradigms from blaming students, parents, and the environment to accepting these as formidable but not insurmountable challenges impacting teaching and learning. Yet, it is more our response to the aforementioned and thus decisions, choices, and preferences about teaching and learning in this context that creates inconsistencies in our classrooms, schools, and school system.

Incompetence does not mean what many think.

We must accept that incompetence is natural. Huh? Yes, whenever we are learning something new, engaging in change we are incompetent. It takes time and practice to develop a competence. One of the most fascinating aspects of the human brain is the innate drive for competence. In all aspects of our lives, humans strive for competence. We don’t like to be incompetent – in any aspect of our lives – but we are.

In a moment of personal disclosure, I am completely incompetent with “video” games. My sons know that if they want to practice (building their competence) with a new game – they get Dad. They absolutely destroy me. I generally get frustrated and lose interest quickly. They have learned that I choose not to play given my incompetence. Sadly, I haven’t surrendered my pride to live the incompetence necessary to learn.

In many respects we have learners in our classrooms that relate – they want to be competent. In a like manner, we have teachers, administrators, and central office staff that desperately want to be competent.

Competency requires humility –

Competency requires risk –

Competency requires time –

Competency requires practice –

Competency requires incompetence –we need to accept and embrace that we will be incompetent at learning anything new, different as well as when we are asked, required to change practice. Unlike my “video” gaming experiences, we cannot choose not to build competence.

Building competence is at the core of learning – thus, we must be learners as well as the facilitators of learning. To that end, the results of our teaching and learning efforts are the perfect starting point to begin the journey towards competence. Now more than ever we need humility, risk, time, and practice to build our competency in those practices that work – effectively for each learner.

Lastly, competency also requires abandoning those practices that don’t effectively work. Thus, the pursuit of competency is an exercise in courage, commitment, and conviction. This pursuit demands deliberate decisions, choices, and preferences that more often or not will produce an initial state of incompetency.

Our results suggest we are in the stage of incompetency with the implementation of several initiatives – we must be diligent in our learning to realize fidelity of these initiatives and programs.

Results do matter but learning matters more!