Michael Winerip has a very interesting (and disturbing) piece in the New York Times (see here) about the cheating scandal in Atlanta. The story just gets worse as more details emerge. The following description of the managerial environment in the Atlanta School District especially struck me.
Investigators described how Dr. Hall had humiliated principals who didn’t reach their targets. Every year she gathered the entire district staff at the Georgia Dome. Those from schools with top scores were seated on the Dome floor; the better the scores, the closer they sat to Dr. Hall. Those with low scores were relegated to sitting in the stands.
Principals, in turn, humiliated teachers. At Fain Elementary, the principal, Marcus Stallworth, had teachers with low test scores crawl under a table, according to the report. At Parks Middle School, teachers who refused to join “changing parties” that were organized by the principal, Christopher Waller, to doctor answer sheets were isolated or let go, the report said.
What can I say about this? It is incredibly sad. I have grown weary of school administrators (K - 12 and higher education) droning on about how schools should be run like businesses (this from people who almost always have no idea how businesses are actually run). And what do they think running a business looks like? Evidently, they think the approach of Frederick Taylor (now 100 years out of date) is the proper model - threaten and provide large incentives. How's that working out for us? As public school teachers salaries have stagnated over the past 30 years, administrator salaries (and the number of administrators) have soared. Just sad...
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