Friday, March 27, 2009

RDale - The Emperor's New Clothes

Once in an MBA course, the instructor made a point that Engineers were the worst at marketing themselves and their value to the company. They typically bury their head in their work with the assumption that the great results will speak for themselves, and then Managers will notice and reward them for this... The Instructor noted that this was unrealistic and wrong !!!

The reality is that there needs to be a balance between work/performance and self marketing if you want to get ahead in your career. (unless you get really lucky) Employees can market and make connections by joining teams, volunteering for company events, joining company leagues, writing articles for a company newsletter, interviewing Mgrs about their typical day, eating in the lunchroom, etc.

With this in mind, I appreciate the RAS efforts to explain how they are succeeding. It is a valid and worthwhile activity.

RDale Info Session for Realtors
Forum Exposes Standardized Test Myths

My concern is that they may be a bit out of touch.(ie see themselves wearing beautiful clothes) The continual drum beating of "choice is most important" and "ignore those No Child Left Behind results" may actually turn citizens off that want "test results" and a "good solid common curriculum(s)" across all the district schools.

Only time will tell if the cloth is real or imaginary. Thoughts?

Note: There is no guarantee that common curriculum(s) across all the schools would improve district results. However, it would save money from logistics, administration, materials, transportation, etc and this could be used in the classrooms. As long as the district did not lose more funding by kids transferring out of RAS to pursue their "choice".

1 comment:

Christine said...

Your post's title made me laugh. The school closures opened my eyes, and I have often said that I feel like I'm yelling, "He's not wearing any clothes!" and no one is listening.
I sat in my little bubble until my school closed, and then I looked at the other schools' test scores and I was shocked. Some schools get tons of extra compensatory funding due their high concentrations of poverty, and they STILL have awful test scores. And 281 says that's just fine, because those schools are GREAT! Stan Mack even said they WANT to keep the poverty concentrated in those schools to maximize the funding they receive. Well, that would make sense if the funding produced results. But it doesn't. And while the MCAs certainly aren't the end all and be all, the vast chasm between Zachary's test scores and Meadow Lake's test scores DO show a difference in achievement, and it's unfair to those kids to write them off as impossible to teach.
I won't be able to make it tomorrow, but hope you can report back.