Imagine a restaurant. The owner gathers all the employees together. “Thank you all for being here today for the grand opening. I just want to remind you of our big goal.”
Everyone leans forward.
“We want to… pass the health inspection.”
This would be weird, right?
A restaurant’s goal should be related to food. Sure, the health inspection is important. It’s a requirement. But it’s not the goal. Of course we’ll pass the health inspection. That’s a minimum. A goal has to go beyond the minimum!
Health Inspection = Minimum Standards
But this situation is the same as when a principal proclaims, “Our school’s goal is to meet the grade level standards!” It’s aiming for the minimum expectation.
What happens when a student can already meet their grade level’s standards? What happens when a 4th grader is already ready for 6th grade work? (This is more common than we realize – because we never check for it! Read more here.)
A school needs an actual goal!
Bizarre Incentives
When a restaurant’s focus is to merely pass the health inspection, it sets up some weird incentives. Chefs will be discouraged from cooking because, well, cooking creates a mess. And our goal is to pass the health inspection!
That sounds insane, right? Yet I see it all the time in schools. Oh, my principal says we can’t read a novel or learn chess or look at classic art because our goal is to meet grade level standards.
When you obsess over a minimum requirement, it discourages people from going beyond that requirement. That minimum requirement because a ceiling. The minimum turns into a maximum!
Low Expectations Make Good People Leave
A restaurant that aims to pass the health inspection will lose their best employees. Good chefs, servers, waiters, managers, etc will all leave. They’ll go to a restaurant that aims high. They’ll go somewhere that encourages them to pursue greatness.
If a school forbids teachers from venturing past the basic requirements, if it forces everything to be about meeting minimum standards, then the best teachers will just go somewhere else. Or they’ll leave the field.
Aim Higher
Ok, we passed the health inspection. Now what? What is the restaurant’s actual goal?
Sure, you need students to meet standards. But you need a good answer to, “What then?” Assume that most of your students already can or soon will meet that basic requirement. What is your school’s actual goal?