education

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education February 15, 2018

How Can Universities Build Their Brands?

Students in higher education today have an array of choices when it comes to selecting the university provides the best fit for their needs.

Ivy League schools and the Big 10 always have a waiting list of hopeful admission candidates. Their iconic brands are legendary, characterized by academic excellence, elitism, and selectivity.

State universities and private colleges competing for the same students have to build a brand to attract their students. The question is, “How can universities build their brands?”

The marketing strategy that works

Colleges and universities can no longer exist as separate ivory towers that wait for hopeful students to tap at the admissions door.

Smart universities have discovered their focus, and they promote that niche at every opportunity. Purdue University has the OWL Writing Lab, and Dartmouth University offers education leadership advice. MIT provides open courseware – free classes that anyone can take. These schools deliver complementary services, and the quality of information piques the interest of prospective students.

Providing useful content is a typical business to business (B2B) strategy designed to convert prospective clients into customers. Universities can do the same thing by curating content that helps prospective candidates take the next step in enrolling.

Take advantage of cross-platform marketing

Decades ago, all of the marketing materials for higher education were printed. Bound undergraduate and graduate catalogs described courses and outlined degree plans. Glossy pictures portrayed idyllic campus life.

Today’s marketing, however, exists in several formats and across many platforms, including a website, video channel, and social media sharing tools.

Universities that develop a consistent and easily recognized brand, complete with consistent colors and stylized logos, are on their way to building a universally recognized names.

Be the brand

A brand is more than an attractive logo or clever videos.

Authentic branding takes place when the brand permeates the job of everyone on campus. If your university values stewardship, then your work should demonstrate stewardship at every level, whether you are teaching or conducting research.

Marketing and branding exist in a vacuum if the college leadership and faculty do not get behind the brand. The school’s mission must be something that every employee can articulate and model in every interaction they have with the public.

These three brand-building strategies aren’t the only way to build a college name, but they can get universities started on the right path to creating a consistent definition of their role in higher education.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Teachers February 11, 2018

Why Ineffective Teachers Shouldn’t Be Hired as Administrators

For classroom teachers, there are only a few ways to move up the career ladder. One such way is by transitioning into administration. By going back to school and earning a degree in education administration, teachers can make the switch to becoming assistant principals and eventually head principal of a school.

Some teachers see a move into administration as a way out of teaching. An administrator’s job is very different from a teacher’s position. Administrators don’t deal with students in the same capacity as classroom teachers. They aren’t responsible for creating lesson plans or ensuring that students learn content.

Administration is not a good fit for every teacher. Many teachers who are good at what they do would never consider moving into an administrative position. Oftentimes, its teachers who struggle in the classroom that want to move up to become administrators. But while teaching and administration are not the same, ineffective teachers tend to make ineffective administrators.

What Makes a Great Teacher?

Teaching is an art form, and it’s hard to pin down exactly what makes a great teacher. There are a few ways that we can measure the success of a teacher. One way is through test scores. Teachers whose students consistently perform well on standardized or state-mandated tests are typically considered to be effective teachers.

Great teachers also know how to connect with students and get them engaged in their learning. They form strong bonds with students and make them feel safe enough to take risks in the classroom. These connections also help great teachers manage student behavior in the classroom.

What Makes a Great Administrator?

All of these qualities are necessary in a good administrator, too. Administrators who don’t understand what it takes to be a great teacher cannot succeed as leaders of a school.

In most cases, administrators have two major responsibilities. They are tasked with ensuring that students in their school perform well academically. This typically means that they score high on tests. Administrators also must create a safe learning environment. That means handling discipline issues effectively.

These tasks aren’t so different from what teachers must do. Great administrators are those who excelled in the classroom, not the teachers who got into administration to get away from teaching.

Ineffective Teachers Become Ineffective Administrators

Great teachers, for the most part, make great administrators if they decide to make the career change. But what happens when an ineffective teacher goes into administration? Usually, they are an ineffective administrator.

Individuals who don’t understand what it takes to improve test scores or build strong relationships with students as a teacher can’t do those things as an administrator. An administrator’s job is to help their teachers achieve success. That means they have to understand how to do these things themselves. After all, if they don’t know how to teach well, they can’t help others become effective teachers.

Weeding Out Ineffective Teachers

So how can current administrators and district leaders weed out ineffective teachers when searching for new administrators? Improving the hiring process is key to finding effective teachers who will become effective administrators. When hiring administrators, it’s rare that potential candidates are asked about their test scores or student performance.

Instead, they are subjected to questions about their future in administration. It’s easy for candidates to talk about what they hope to do as an administrator or how they think they can be effective in an administrative role. Asking candidates to prove that they’ve been effective in the past is more difficult and can help weed out ineffective teachers who would become ineffective administrators.

Teachers are evaluated based on student performance. It makes sense to use the same tools when deciding whether a teacher is qualified for an administrator’s position. Looking at how a teacher has performed in the classroom will give a better idea of how they will perform as an administrator than any other measure.

Looking at data from several years, or even the entire course of a teacher’s career, allows employers to get a broad picture of a teacher. Have their test scores and other indicators of student performance improved over time? This shows a teacher who is still willing and able to grow as a professional, rather than someone looking to get out of teaching altogether. Do they show consistently good results? This shows a teacher who is truly great and understands how to get the best from their students.

Balancing Different Factors

Of course, test scores aren’t the only way to find effective teachers who will make great administrators. Teachers who have spent their career working in high-poverty schools with traditionally lower test scores may not have as much to show for it. Data should be compared against other teachers in a similar environment to get a true measure of a teacher’s performance.

Ultimately, there are many different factors that go into making a great teacher. One thing is certain—effective teachers are needed in administration, and ineffective teachers are not.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Higher Education January 31, 2018

Mistakes that Can End a College Presidency

The college presidency is the apex of university leadership. No other role defines the institution’s image like this position.

Getting in this office and staying there takes skill and wisdom. By the time a higher ed candidate becomes a college president, that person has likely held a variety of leadership positions at various colleges and amassed a wealth of experience.

Even then, the college presidency can be a difficult job. Errors in judgment happen. Some mistakes can even end your college presidency.

Tunnel vision

New college presidents sometimes rely heavily on the advice of close insiders. It’s natural to trust the closest advisers in your cabinet, but doing so limits your point of view, resulting in a one-sided opinion. In essence, it’s like wearing blinders.

Academic Impressions cites heavy reliance on the kitchen cabinet, a counsel of insiders, as one of the common mistakes new college presidents make. It’s tempting to solicit counsel from your most trusted advisors, but doing so can give you tunnel vision.

Dirty laundry

Nothing fuels gossip and ignites a tailspin like the scent of a scandal.

College presidents are human. They make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes are scandalous. Scandal can destroy a presidency, especially in this era of transparency. Social media has become the vehicle for sharing this information, and news travels fast.

Affairs, DUIs, and domestic disturbances are the fodder for scandal, and scandalous behavior can derail your presidency.

Poor contract negotiations

Employment contracts may be tedious reading, but the college president who doesn’t peruse his or her contract will be frustrated before the end of the first year. All too often, a candidate is eager to accept the position before taking the time to understand the contract and performance expectations.

Your contract should fit your requirements as well as those of the college. Make sure your agreement includes not only the benefits you need but also the benefits you want.

More importantly, have your attorney review the document.

Failure to take care of money and people

Universities run on finances and culture. College presidents who understand neither will find their career-derailing quicker than university students leaving on holiday. Neglecting finances will signal the demise of a career. Staying on top of financial reports is critical. College presidents personify the culture of the campus at every event, and donors look for an alignment with the college’s philosophy.

Mistakes like these can end your college presidency; learning how to avoid them may lead to your success.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education January 27, 2018

Why Can’t Most College Graduates Write a Decent Essay?

Writing is a recursive skill.

It involves reading and analysis as much as it does writing and editing. After twelve years of writing instruction in school, students should have mastered the art of writing before coming to college. University-level scholarship should be where they refine their rhetorical skills while exploring courses of study.

Instead, college students are graduating with gaps in their instruction, a lack of writing experience, and desultory writing skills. In fact, most college graduates seem unable to write a decent essay.

Gaps in instruction

College students do not master the art of writing, in part, because they have not been held accountable for quality writing in middle and high school. The instructional focus has instead been on reader-writer workshops that cheat students out of understanding the basic building blocks of language. A focus on whole language has destroyed student writing.

Attention to syntax and spelling has waned over the last decade, but that’s not the only challenge. Students are mostly incapable of mounting a coherent and logical argument. Their rhetorical skills are deficient and their grammar appalling.

Who is taking responsibility for the deficit in writing skill? No one, it turns out.

Lack of writing experience

College students have limited essay writing experience. Teachers do not require their students to write essays, largely because the teachers themselves have difficulty grading them.

Evaluating writing is labor-intensive, and teachers often skip giving an in-depth analysis and feedback of writing in favor of holistic scoring.

Mediocre writing is commonplace

Students are ill-prepared to write, and the result is mediocrity.

Excellent writing skills are rarely taught anymore. High school teachers do not teach rhetoric because they haven’t learned it. College professors do not have time to instruct students in logic and rhetoric because they have a course of study to present. It’s assumed that college students will already have the skills needed for writing, and it goes without saying that students should be able to write a grammatically correct sentence.

Instead, most college students can’t put their thoughts together on paper. They are unable to express themselves clearly and coherently in writing, they lack vocabulary skills, and the businesses who are hiring college grads have noticed the deficiency.

Writing is thinking. Until we teach writing in a systematic way that includes not only grammar, usage, and mechanics, but also logic and rhetoric, we’ll continue to award degrees to college graduates who can’t write a decent essay.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education January 23, 2018

In College Remedial Classes, Unprepared Students Get Unprepared Instructors

If you feel unprepared for the rigors of college, you’re not the only one. The chances are good that your instructor is equally unready to teach you.

Universities assign remedial classes to teaching assistants, adjunct instructors and sometimes the newest faculty members. Those with the lowest standing – and often the least amount of teaching experience — teach remedial classes. Elite professors of distinction teach only upper-level classes; you won’t have access to the best in higher ed.

Unprepared students get unprepared instructors.

How the system works

Remedial classes are most often assigned to part-time instructors. These teachers often have only a bachelor’s degree. Many work for several colleges, and in doing so, keep minimal office hours. Colleges do not require that the instructors have a background in teaching.

Assigning full-fledged university professors to remedial classes offers little hope for ameliorating the situation. Universities do not mandate that their fully-tenured faculty have backgrounds in education. These professors have been hired because of their prominence in their fields of study, not for their ability to close learning gaps.

Thought-leadership and remedial instruction are worlds apart.

Who gets left behind

As a result, remedial classes are failing students.

According to the Community College Research Center, three out of every five students enrolled in remedial college English classes don’t acquire the skills needed for college coursework. The prospects are worse for remedial math classes, where 80% of students never make it to college-level math.

Good grades are no indication of success

You may have earned As and Bs in high school, but even a 4.0 GPA is no guarantee that you’ll be able to skip developmental classes in college.

Prepare now

Having to take remedial college classes adds to the cost of a college education, requiring both money and time.

Enrollees will not see a tuition break for remedial classes. All tuition hours are billed the same, but the hours spent in remedial courses will not count toward a degree plan. Instead, these courses hold students in limbo until they are ready for the rigors of authentic college work.

To prepare for your college education and skip remedial classes altogether, do these things:

Take your high school classes seriously by studying the material and mastering it.
Get a feel for a college class by taking a dual-enrollment course Close gaps early. Hire a tutor and sign up for study sessions to get the help you need.
Close learning gaps early. Hire a tutor and sign up for study sessions to get the help you need.
Do well on standardized assessments and placement tests by reviewing what will be testing and practicing for the exam.

Hopefully, you’ll be prepared enough to skip remedial classes.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Higher Education EdTech January 19, 2018

What Colleges Should Do to Get Ready for Generation Alpha

They’re coming.

The children of millennials, generation Alpha, are on their way to a college near you, and their expectations for higher education will be unlike anything we’ve seen.

Generation Alpha celebrated its first birthday in 2011. Although these six-year-olds are not yet college-ready, colleges can begin preparations to meet the influencers of the future. These children are already influencing their parents’ spending habits. Millenials are more than willing to provide their generation Alpha children with what they need for success, and these parents are seeking non-traditional opportunities.

There’s no reason to expect that this trend will wane by the time generation Alpha will be ready for college matriculation.

Here’s how colleges can get ready for generation Alpha:

Comfort with Technology

You can expect generation Alpha students to have developed an unprecedented comfort with technology. All they will have known in their lives is the seamless integration between technology and everyday living.

These students will expect technology to be integrated into college life and university studies, and their purchasing and learning will be virtual.

Less is more

Because technology broadens the world, colleges would do well to create programs of study that require deep learning. Generation Alpha is the offspring of millennials who refused to inherit their parents’ collections of furniture, art, and family mementos. They, like their parents, will have a laser-like focus on needs instead of wants. Education will be no exception to this rule.

Colleges can help prepare for this singular approach to studies by offering fewer degrees and providing a richer context for study.

The generation Alpha students will strive to become subject matter specialists in their chosen fields, and they will be willing to invest the time it takes to do that.

Palpable Effects on Learning

Don’t expect the Generation Alphas to wait until college to do their learning. This generation will be more entrepreneurial than any other, and you can expect many of its members to have already started their own companies.

They are coming to your college with experience, and they’ll want you to help them refine their knowledge so they can apply it in creative ways.

Generation Alphas are more likely to live into their 100s, and this longevity will afford them with rich knowledge, learned from their studies and from experiences.

With the right planning, you’ll be ready for the class of 2033.

Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform, Trending Topics January 16, 2018

Pass or Fail: Supporting Teachers to Enhance Educational Value

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

How do we support teachers to help them achieve the level of competency required in America today? Are we doing enough to support what we expect them to accomplish?

As part of the third-year evaluation activities, one study asked a group of lead teachers to indicate what they valued most in the ORSI effort to enhance teacher experiences and provide supports.

According to the results, teachers most valued informative professional development that they could take back and incorporate into their classrooms. They also reported valuing the experience of being treated like professionals because it helped them to change practices in classrooms when improvements were needed. The study also indicated that teachers valued being part of a network, being able to share information with other professionals to discuss practices that could improve student learning.

When forced to accept a new curriculum and make difficult changes in instructional approach, teachers most valued having access to support groups and workshops on the aspects of effectively teaching new material, especially math and science topics. Listening to nationally recognized trainers were also said to make a positive difference when it was necessary to adopt a new curriculum and make difficult changes in approach.

In other words, teachers value support from the institution of education itself. They also value the opportunity to be exposed to information on best practices for teaching and for information about curricula and standards. Allowing teachers to understand why the system expects them to teach certain knowledge and skills helps them to be more effective at their jobs.

Strategies such as providing regional networking and direct assistance to schools also helped remove the isolation and access issues for teachers looking to acquire new skills. Access to information, including hands-on materials, information on teaching strategies about advanced content, and opportunities to work with other teachers on the same grade level emerged as important support strategies. Teachers also value the administrative support of principals and superintendents who can pass along useful, research-based information.

According to the ORSI, most school administrators strongly supported requests of teachers to attend regional trainings that promise to improve skills in raising student achievement in math and science. One third-grade teacher reported that “ORSI professional development targets specifically the programs we use, and recommends practices for teaching more effectively within those programs.”A fifth-grade teacher indicated that “professional development opportunities now are convenient and well-publicized within our school. We are now encouraged to attend professional development.”

Adequate supports like these help ensure that teachers are consistently able to set students at the center of instruction, helping teachers to guide students and implement practices that enhance and fine-tune the teaching of the individual child instead of the class. Entire districts can benefit when school and district leaders allow teachers to examine curricula and learn new teaching practices by networking with their colleagues.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Higher Education EdTech January 11, 2018

What Does a College President Do All Day?

Read the job description for a college president, and you’ll notice that the leader’s duties are divided into planning, leadership, and fundraising. As simple and straightforward as it sounds, a college presidency requires commitment and fortitude, and it’s not a position for those looking for fewer responsibilities and hours in a work week.

A college president carries a tremendous amount of responsibility while focusing on leadership, planning, fundraising and developing in-depth knowledge. This leader can pull down an impressive half-million dollar salary or more each year, but what does he or she do all day?

Leadership

A college president is always a leader first. Everything he or she does must forward the university’s goals. A typical day spent leading the campus involves meeting with trustees, faculty, students and state education representatives.

Planning

A college president attends a variety of planning committees, ranging from college focus groups to state agency meetings. Planning meetings also include building and construction meetings, policies and procedures, courses of study, and more.

Fundraising

College presidents are accountable for fundraising, and a president who is also a rainmaker brings in the kind of significant funding necessary for the college to grow. These leaders must demonstrate a willingness to attend functions outside the traditional day, which can eat away at the personal time one might hope to have on evenings and weekends.

Developing deep knowledge

Perhaps most importantly, college presidents need to know their constituents. That means spending time with a variety of stakeholders, including not only donors and education leaders at state and national levels, but also the students and faculty.

You may think the job looks easy, but here’s what a sample schedule for a college president looks like:

5:30 AM Wake up, exercise, shower, dress, check emails

6:30 AM Drive to first meeting

7:00 AM Breakfast meeting with school district superintendents

8:30 AM Meet onsite to review potential land acquisition

9:15 AM Meeting with college deans

10:30 AM Review financial audits and prepare report for the board

11:30 AM Visit campus cafeterias, talk to professors and students

1:00 PM Back to the office, follow up on emails, phone calls

2:00 PM Review new personnel policies and make recommendations for changes

2:30 PM Establish new committees to address campus concerns

3:00 PM Meet with the accreditation committee

4:30 PM Scheduled meetings with individuals

6:00 PM Check emails, follow up on requests

7:00 PM Attend fundraiser gala

11:00 PM Professional reading and writing

12:00 AM End of day

What does a college president do all day? She – or he – epitomizes the college’s philosophy through complete devotion to the job at hand.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Higher Education EdTech January 10, 2018

How Exchange Students Are China’s Trojan Horse

Are you an advocate of diversity and inclusion?

That’s good, because part of diversity and inclusion in schools today comes from an influx of Chinese students, and they’re not immigrants.

They are exchange students, and they are China’s Trojan horse.

University infiltration

Since the early 1980s, Chinese students have flocked to American universities. College students sought a Western-style education that would give them an advantage when beginning their professional careers.

Today the influx of exchange students are also part of Confucius Institutes housed at more than 100 universities in the US. The Chinese government sanctions these institutes and approves all curriculum taught at the institute. In a sense, the Confucius Institutes usurp American free speech rights, limiting academic content and thought to that aligned with Chinese politics.

Confucius Institutes are not confined to America; these academic dens of higher learning have infiltrated universities around the world.

Dropping in on high school

The value of an American education has not gone unnoticed in China. Chinese students fill high school classroom seats as quickly as possible. Chinese parents and their children value American high school diplomas almost as much as they do an American university degree.

The American high school diploma is the bridge to entrance in an American university, and three states have become favorites for Chinese exchange students: California, Michigan, and Texas. In fact, Chinese students make up nearly half of all high school exchange students in the United States.

Chinese exchange students have been called the Parachute Generation. They may be more of a paratrooper generation because they are matriculating in US schools in overwhelming numbers.

What it means

A Chinese proverb states, “You will never lose a battle if you know your own situation as well as that of your enemy.”

The United States is in a precarious position. We owe China $1.1 trillion in debt, and we need to understand our situation. While the debt is unlikely to be a coercive tool, it does make China a power player.

Chinese exchange students may be secretly getting a Western education to learn about those that China perceives as an enemy. These students are learning firsthand about Western culture, and they immerse themselves in English. Exchange students are China’s competitive edge in assuming prominence as an international presence in a global economy.

These exchange students have become the Trojan horse of China. These students will return to their homeland to one day become the most powerful nation in the world.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education January 6, 2018

Does Tenure Matter? It Depends on Who You Ask

Higher education has reached a point where tenure is no longer an aspiration but a lofty goal and reward given after decades of dedication (and plenty of research success).

But what does tenure mean in today’s world, and more importantly does tenure matter?

The answer is usually yes, but the reason depends on who you ask.

Tenure Protects Academic Freedom

Too often, the benefits of tenure for both universities and staff are considered only in terms of the budget. But the benefits of tenure – and why it matters – lies in academic freedom.

If the bulk of college and university staff in the classroom are ineligible for tenure, then it defeats the purpose of taking risks and teaching. Staff who aren’t protected aren’t free to teach in the most meaningful and beneficial way possible.

There’s no room for error or change or challenge for teaching staff who don’t have the security of tenure or even the security of a multi-year contract.

Instead, staff must balance keeping students happy – whatever that means – with being on the job market and with participating in the research and publication duties expected of them even without hopes of a tenure track.

There’s also the issue of the rise in volatile politics. As local, state, and national policies veer in drastically different directions every election cycle, tenure protects those doing good work from becoming victims of politics.

Few have figured out how to preserve academic freedom when the outlook for tenure is bleak.

Tenure Hurts New Research

Tenure helps young teacher and researchers work hard and stay the course, but the current tenure system also hurts them.

The old guard holding onto positions until death or retirement, whichever comes first, prevent the opening of space for new research.

Additionally, tenure forces faculty to split their time, taking good researchers out of the lab and putting them in the classroom and forcing good teachers out of the classroom and into the lab because of a system focused on research income rather than merit.

Can We Balance Tenure?

Tenure matters in positive and negative ways. But is there a way to balance tenure to protect academic staff without sheltering them?

Potentially.

Some say that finding parity in a world without tenure means ensuring the non-tenure track staff are protected. The use of multi-year contracts could be replaced by fair salaries, particularly because those salaries aren’t promised until retirement.

Additionally, as Bernstein and Kezar point out over at The Conversation, there is the option of re-thinking the tenure system to be based on incentives that focus on more than research revenue includes a teaching tenure track for those who dedicate their time to the classroom.

What is your experience with tenure? Does it matter anymore, or does it matter more than ever?