Like I've been sending egg salad!?

I was told, like “we've got to send something better; like at least a Monte Cristo, or a Muffuletta from Central Grocery in New Orleans, or no, wait, wait, wait, maybe a Smoked Gouda and Apple Butter on San Francisco Sourdough. Something to get their attention. Something that says I care about you, personally, like the cheese and the pickle care about the Ploughman.” Okay, so those weren't the exact words, in fact not at all close to the exact words, but it was something like, “what we've been doing isn't working, so we've got to do better.” Well I personally like egg salad, and even if it is kind of standardly generic (or maybe generically standard) I think it would be okay to send egg salad and I think it should probably be enough to just send egg salad, but I don't think I would exactly characterize my missives as egg salad anyway, and, and, yeah, no, I think like I've at least been sending a nice Cuban with premium pork shoulder, baby Swiss and deli ham, and why do they need all this fancy face food anyway when they should be making their own damn sandwiches.

This is my attempt at something more; trying to get your attention; trying to do better. I am writing this but I don't know if I will ever send it because I don't know if we really want to do better or if we just like talking about it, because if we really wanted to do better it seems we should be focusing on the segment of the population that really needs to do better instead of telling me I need to do something different and better to get them to do better; yeah; like it's my fault. And because our perspective already seems to be skewed I don't know if this missive will be received with good humor but seriously as a passionate plea for those who could do better to actually do better, or if it will be seen as an impertinent know-nothing hourly-paid commoner committing a fireable (or at the least an esteem-lowering) offense; and while we are encouraged to be creative and think outside the box, the only reason you are probably still reading this is because my creative is moving toward crazy and my outside the box is far enough outside the box that you have no idea what I might say next and if there is going to be a train wreck, you want a front row seat.

So, here's what I'm talking about: Evaluations; and the plethora of reminders I send trying to obtain those evaluations. That's right; but before you hang up, I'll say something unexpected so you'll stay with me. I am tired of sending you egg salad after grilled cheese after fried bologna after that nice Cuban only to have you (when and only when it suits you) reciprocate with half a peanut butter and jelly – with grape jelly!? And creamy peanut butter!? You know I like nuts! And for future reference, please start cutting off the crust.

Evaluations!

This personal plea is a proverbial straw specific to this moment (9/1/2020, 9:25pm); but regarding timeliness it is applicable to many, many evaluators and regarding quality I believe it is applicable to everyone; (always room for improvement, and all that, you know). Some numbers follow. In a little more than 14 months in this position I have sent out 1,823 evaluations to 270 different preceptors. Of those 1,823 evaluations I have had to send 3 or more reminders 676 times, 5 or more reminders 407 times, 7 or more reminders 260 times, and 10 or more reminders 119 times. I have sent a total of 5,211 reminders. Why? Why is it necessary to send that many reminders? And instead of focusing on how we can send ‘better' reminders, why don't we focus on accountability? Why don't we work with the 171 preceptors who have needed 3 or more reminders? Or the 108 who have needed 5 or more? Or the 68 who have needed 7 or more. Or even just the 40 who have needed 10 or more? I would even consider it progress if we communicated with the 1 preceptor who has opted out of all 18 evaluations sent to them in the last academic year. But when it comes to the quality and timeliness of evaluations, there is no communication or feedback. There is no evaluation of the evaluators. There is no recognition of responsibility. There is no accountability. Why?

In recent years I have prided myself on not taking work home with me. These past two weeks I am not proud. I estimate in this time having lost 5 hours 7 minutes and 21 seconds of sleep. Not a lot, but still… As I write these words it is 10:05pm. Do you know how many times I have seen 10pm in the last year? Not very many. I am losing sleep. All because we are nearly eight weeks out on four students' grades and you won't make me half a damn sandwich!

I apologize. I know this is not about me and I should not take it personally. It is up to me if I choose to lose sleep. I don't want to be angry. I know you have many demands on your time, and I am confident that you are not working to purposefully punish the students, but honestly, that's who it's about; they are the ones who suffer. I know; I hear from them. I believe timely feedback may be even more important than quality feedback; though whenever possible, I believe it is important to have both. The ingredients were purchased during the student's rotation; all the ingredients for all kinds of different sandwiches. If you wait too long to make the sandwich, it will be old and stale; and if you wait too long to make the sandwich, all you will find is grape jelly and creamy peanut butter, and maybe only enough for half a sandwich.

Recently I have been privileged to do some work on the side for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In this capacity, researching and writing, I have found widespread agreement that without assessment and feedback (i.e. Evaluations), the learning loop is not complete. According to the State of Missouri DESE Aspiring Level Participant Guide, (which exists for Aspiring Level school principals), there are three Leadership Competencies necessary for Instruction: 1) Viable Curriculum, 2) Effective Instructional Practice, and 3) Effective Assessment. In one study regarding assessment, Yin and Buck supply the connective tissue between these three competencies saying, “In establishing the coherence of the assessment system, the role of standards is important because when classroom instruction, formative assessment and summative accountability tests are aligned with the content and cognitive demands of curricular standards, teachers are more likely to develop a view of formative assessment and summative accountability testing as compatible rather than conflicting.” (Yin & Buck, 2018, p. 36). In other research, Faubert stresses the importance of quality assessment saying,

“Assessment is probably the most important factor in advancing or hindering equity in the classroom. Achievement gains associated with formative assessment “are among the largest ever reported for educational interventions” and have been found to improve equity in student outcomes by achieving general academic gains for all students (OECD, 2005, p. 2). To be clear, both summative and formative approaches have value and both are considered integral in the learning process. Success in the classroom requires that both summative and formative assessment be used in concert and practiced systematically. In addition, schools and school systems that are serious about reducing failure should focus on advancing student knowledge and building confidence through useful, systematic and detailed assessment in contrast to assessment summed as a single letter or number. The letter or number does not provide a student much in the way of guidance on how to improve for the next assessment.” (Faubert, 2012, p.11).

Regarding the importance of timely assessment, Cherasaro, Brodersen, Reale & Yanoski recommend that evaluators consider “ways to ensure that feedback is frequent, is timely, and includes specific suggestions to improve content and subject knowledge.” (Cherasaro et al., 2016, p. 11). And in another article, Bienstock, Katz, Cox, Hueppchen, Erickson, and Puscheck state that “Quality feedback is timely, specific to the situation, constructive, based on direct observation and nonjudgmental.” (Bienstock et al., 2007, p. 508). Granted, formative feedback given during the rotation is different than the summative feedback found on the final evaluation, but the required comments on the summative evaluation should reflect the formative feedback given throughout the rotation, which again underlines the importance of timeliness because without a complex system of recordkeeping, how can a preceptor remember the formative feedback given a student more than eight weeks ago? And it is the comments (representing formative feedback) on the summative evaluation that are most important to many students because (if I understand correctly) the comments meaningfully impact the student’s search for residency programs, thus their entire future in a medical field. I could go on. Research overwhelmingly reports that without assessment and feedback (including final summative evaluations), the learning loop is not complete. And just as a whole sandwich, made with fresh, quality ingredients, is better than half-a-grape-jelly-smooth-peanut-butter sandwich on stale bread, complete effective assessment is better than plain old whenever-you-get-around-to-it assessment. And don’t forget to cut off the crust.

Please.

• Aspiring Level Participant Guide. (2019). Missouri Leadership Development System. Retrieved from https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/MLDSAspiringLevelGuide.pdf
• Bienstock, J. L., Katz, N.T., Cox, S.M., Hueppchen, N., Erickson, S., and Puscheck, E. E. (2007). To the point: medical education reviews—providing feedback. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 196(6), 508-513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2006.08.021.
• Cherasaro, T. L., Brodersen, R. M., Reale, M. L., & Yanoski, D. C. (2016). Teachers’ responses to feedback from evaluators: What feedback characteristics matter? (REL 2017–190). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Central. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED570162.
• Faubert, B. (2012), “A Literature Review of School Practices to Overcome School Failure”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 68, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5k9flcwwv9tk-en
• OECD (2005), “Formative assessment: Improving learning in secondary classrooms Policy Brief”, OECD Observer, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/31/35661078.pdf.
• Yin, X., & Buck, G. (2019) Using a collaborative action research approach to negotiate an understanding of formative assessment in an era of accountability testing. Teaching and Teacher Education, 80, 27-38 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.12.018.

So, no. I will put this out here in this long string of public weekly written thought for no one to read. I will not send it, I will not speak of It, I will not read it to anyone. I care; some say, far more than I should. I will not change; and I believe that if more of us cared as passionately as I care about justice and equity, perhaps we actually would do better. In this particular circumstance, I give up on others partially because no one has seriously asked for my input, making me believe that I should stay in my assigned lane; and partially because I do fear for my job; and partially because there has been no accountability for 14 months and the best predictor of the future is the past; but more so than anything because I discovered the current uptick in efforts (of those with power who should care about all evaluations) is being directed toward a specific segment of evaluations that are policed by an outside governing body. Because of this spotlight, we are more concerned with some evaluations that are four weeks out than with others that are eight weeks out. This makes me believe that

• We care more about appearances than we do about accountability.
• We care more about data and reports than we do about aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment.
• We care more about status and power than we do about feedback frequency and timeliness.
• We care more about expediency than we do about quality.
• We care more about politics than we do about students.
• We care more about production than we do about equity.
• We care more about urgent than we do about important.

Why?