What do restaurant servers and teachers have in common?

We had been looking forward to our anniversary dinner for months. The restaurant was selected, and we drooled over the menu. Then disappointment arrived – big time. The server brought us wilted lettuce for our salad. This was followed by lukewarm soup. The main course was a filet with three different temperatures, depending on which bite you took, cold potatoes and semi-raw carrots. We were so irritated with our server! Who hired this incompetent waiter? Is anyone evaluating him?

We all know the irritation was misguided. The people who created the miserable meal are invisible; something is wrong with the system that we cannot see.

Student instruction in our schools in not sticking; it does not last. Isn’t it reasonable to be irritated with the people delivering the learning to students? No. Today’s teachers and administrators did not design the current learning system; they are only responsible for the delivery. The designers are hidden from view -- in their graves.

Today’s educators inherited a system based upon inspection and not upon learning. Just like some corporations, it is thought that quality can be increased through inspection. No, learning quality must be built into the system. Decades of legislators have passed laws with this false belief that more inspections of students, teachers, and schools will increase learning. They like to espouse “research-based” strategies. Well, we have decades of research proving that the billions spent on annual inspections and multiple billions spent on preparing for the annual test inspections has not resulted in improved learning.

All the inspections of our anniversary waiter who delivered our disappointing meal will not improve next year’s celebration. We can video the server at work and have the restaurant owner and server critique every second and there will be no improvement. We can hire a chief inspector to inspect the inspectors. Still no improvement. We can grade each waiter ABCDF and post the ranking. Good grief! Still no improvement. We can then give a grade every quarter to our waiter to better prepare him for the annual inspection. So disappointing! What is wrong with this waiter anyway?

We must change from an inspection system to a “learning that lasts” system where joy, creativity, and lasting learning co-exist. Our teachers and students will be thrilled; only the inspection industry will be sad.

I am sure you know many reasons that learning does not last. Think of ones that schools (not families and students) have control over? What are the hidden reasons that learning does not last?