Week 7 HPI/HPT and Podcast

As I read Chapter 14, the Development and Evolution of Human Performance Improvement, I sometimes found myself thinking about my students in this role and other times I thought about me and my colleagues. I recently sat in on a data conference with my school principal to go over my students’ many test scores as their success is a component of my evaluation process. I don’t know how I feel about this whole process. I know some teachers who have been skating by for a long time. But for the most part, the teachers I know are professionals who care about their craft. I frequently hear, “Teaching is an art! How do you evaluate that? How can business models be used as tools for evaluation?” Whether we like it or not evaluations are in place and we have no say in the matter.

In looking at figure 14.2 something jumped out at me. This same something has been bugging me for the past couple of weeks. Our evaluation is missing an incentive to do better in our job. What upper management sees as an incentive is the sheer fact that we get to keep our job. I feel like some hire-ups took this Human Performance Theory and cut out the parts that did not work for them. I think if schools are going to use business models then they should look at the whole model.

It is not my intent to start spouting off about not making enough money, but knowing you are appreciated by your superiors goes a long way to foster a community based on respect. I think more school systems should look at adopting a full HPT plan. However, I do not believe it should be on the backs of students in the form of merit pay. There has to be ways to show teachers they are respected, valued, and encouraged to remain an active learner for the sake of our students. 

Mike Flanagan, State Superintendent for Michigan has an occasional podcast based on various topics affecting education.