Grantcoulson's Blog

       Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

     Any organization which receives government money will eventually develop a bureaucracy which is large enough to be unbelievable to those who must operate in the real world with earned money.

Administrative Bloat Study Successfully Replicated

Replication is the engine of scientific progress.  That progress feels especially good when it confirms one’s work.

A little more than a year ago I wrote an analysis for the Goldwater Institute along with Brian Kisida and Jonathan Mills on the growth in non-instructional professional staff at major universities — or administrative bloat.  Then last year the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) issued what appeared to be a rebuttal analysis in which they claimed that “public colleges and universities are operating more efficiently than before, and with appropriate numbers of staff.”

Recently the Pope Center examined both of these studies and then conducted their own new analysis.  They concluded:

    the Pope Center analyzed the two studies and also roughly replicated both of them for the 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina system. While we do not claim to be the definitive voice on the matter, we discovered that one of the two studies—the one that said excessive staffing is a serious problem—seemed to be on the mark. The other contained some truth but also raised a few questions about its objectivity….

    Our findings, which focused entirely on the UNC system, corroborated the Goldwater study for the most part. Between 1993 and 2010, total UNC system staffing indeed grew faster than enrollment: 51 percent against 42 percent; the number of total staff members per 100 students grew 5.9 percent….

    The failure to mention the more recent upward trend in staffing [in the SHEEO report] was puzzling—certainly anybody who has looked at statistics professionally would be able to pick up the trend reversal and realize its significance. Such an important omission raises the possibility that the SHEEO researchers also “cherry-picked” 2001 as a starting point in order to show an overall decline in staffing, rather than the real long-term trend that staffing is rising. (There are no such concerns about the Goldwater study—the researchers chose 1993 because that was the first year for which this type IPEDS was available.)

Ahh.  Vindication is sweet.

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    Administration is so much easier than that troublesome teaching.

      And, an example from my forthcoming book–Shadow Dancing on the Grave of Hope

The most famous case of lots of money producing nothing is from  Kansas City, Missouri where a judge ordered increased funding because the system was failing, a common result in public enterprise. "Fail, and we give you more money."  Progressive education "experts" expected that the level of funding would light the way to the brighter future always promised. The teacher student ratio was 1:13. Teaching amenities included a wild-life sanctuary,  a miniature United Nations, a zoo and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The parochial school system in the city had a ratio of administrators to students of  1 to 4000 whereas the lavishly funded public system had a ratio of 1 to 60. Four thousand divided by 60 gives the difference of 66.6 times more administration per student in the public system.  The increased funding did not result in better scores, but in spectacular waste and corruption. Quelle surprise. Much of the computer equipment bought with the extra money was never unboxed.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

   Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

      Today, we have an arcane consideration about core teaching and special education teaching. Special education usually consists of two changes. The first is that the teaching methods used in special education are the same as those which have failed to teach the student in a regular class but in smaller groups. The second is that standards are substantially lowered. Special education doesn’t work, but, on the positive side, it’s very expensive.

      Direct Instruction, the Engelmann brand, was never intended as a special education technique, but as core curriculum (curricula) for all. In Canada, the Direct Instruction, programs are even labeled as “intervention” in the catalogue.

    This article discusses the use of Direct Instruction as core curricula. Naturally, it has data which indicate success. Otherwise as in most educational discussions, it would consist of meandering philosophy, ungrounded in usefulness.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

    Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

    In 2010, it was “discovered” that the test scores at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island were low. After negotiations, all of the staff were fired and, as predicted here, even in the midst of hysteria,  were rehired. Also, as predicted here, the results have not improved. I’m not privy to the kinds of spin put on this pathetic do si do ( square dancing term), but I’m sure something will occur to the people who believe that the purpose of politics is to change the world by describing it differently.

     Meanwhile, the students remain untaught and the status quo remains undisturbed which is always the case.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

         Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

      Today’s reflections have to do with the teaching of ratios in K-12 mathematics. Ratios represent two major things wrong with public schooling. The first is the unbelievable uselessness of most of the curriculum. Ratios are used, I’m sure, in many applications, but not the kind most of us will ever run into. Teaching ratios accords with the prime purpose of public education which is a long, extended, very inefficient IQ test.

    The second is the silly way ratios are taught. Teaching ratios, even ratios with more than two parts is a relatively simple thing. For example, if the ratio of horses to horseflies is 3:17, how many horses are there if there are 68 horseflies?  is easily answered by keeping the ratio 3 over 17 equal to x over 68 and solving for x. What did I multiply 17 to get 68?– the answer is 4, so I must multiply 3 by 4 to determine the number of horses, 12. The way it’s done in the textbooks I have seen is far from this simplicity.

     A pointless curriculum taught inefficiently–the best of both worlds.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

    Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

       Wherein one may find evidence of the effectiveness of Direct Instruction for all to see. Click  here to see the evidence for the effectiveness of public school practices. Yes, clicking doesn’t lead anywhere because the effectiveness of public school practices depends on faith, belief in authority and other, sound principles of science.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

   Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

Afraid of Your Child’s Math Textbook? You Should Be

Annie Keeghan -  There may be a reason you can’t figure out some of those math problems in your son or daughter’s math text and it might have nothing at all to do with you. That math homework you’re trying to help your child muddle through might include problems with no possible solution. It could be that key information or steps are missing, that the problem involves a concept your child hasn’t yet been introduced to, or that the math problem is structurally unsound for a host of other reasons.

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       That’s just a partial list.

I have worked for over 20 years in educational publishing as a product developer, writer, and editor of curriculum materials for grades K-8. I’ve worked directly for textbook publishers and supplemental publishers (supplemental being those books that are adjuncts to the text), start-ups and large publishing houses. I’ve attended countless sales meetings, product meetings, and planning sessions, seen and taken part in the inner workings of a successful textbook from inception to completion. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with publishers dedicated to producing the best materials possible. Because of them, I was able to produce several successful reading, math, and assessment programs and make a darn good living doing it.

Best of all, I was able to feel proud of those books to which my name was attached. But there are no longer many projects that allow such a feeling to take hold. Why? Because the “new normal” among too many publishers is a severe lack of oversight in the quality of curriculum being produced, and a frightening prevalence of apathy to do anything about it.

The root of problem begins with this key fact: There are only a small number of educational publishers left after rabid buyouts and mergers in the 90s, publishers that all vie for a piece of a four-billion dollar (forbes.com) pie. In recent years, math has become the subject du jour due to government initiatives and efforts to raise the rankings of U.S. students who lag behind in math compared to 30 other industrialized nations. With state and local budgets constrained to unprecedented levels, publishers must compete for fewer available dollars. As a result, many are rushing their products (especially in math) to market to before their competitors, product that in many instances is inherently, tragically flawed.

At one time, a writer in this industry could write a book and receive roughly 6% royalties on sales. The salesperson who sold the product, however, earned (and still does) a commission upwards of 17% on the same product. This sort of pay structure never made sense to me; without the product, there’d be nothing to sell, after all. But this disparity serves to illustrate the thinking that has been entrenched industry-wide for decades—that sales and marketing is more valuable than product.

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    Shades of marketing psychiatric drugs.

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And so, I say to parents: Take a good look at the materials your children are bringing home. And to educators: Look at what you’re purchasing. Don’t be satisfied with the classic “thumb through” and don’t take those marketing materials or the sales pitch at face value. Take the time to study the materials; match them to your state’s desired standards and preferred benchmarks. If they’re not a good fit, take a pass and develop your own if you must. The only way kids are going to become better educated through the materials you buy, to increase their rankings among those 30 other countries, is to break the cycle and stop buying those books that are—there’s no other way to put it—crap.

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    The thing that is significantly left out of this, and other discussions, is testing these materials on students. As long as the form is good, results don’t matter. This is the definition of crap. Fads come and go in public education because they can. Hushed reverence leads to an uninterrupted flow of money and lack of effectiveness. You can look it up. It’s in the book called The Laws of Human Nature.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

    Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

    I don’t find this far-fetched. A mother told me recently her son was going to receive “counseling” for a drawing of a “flaming skull”. The student is a fan of Nicolas Cage whose new movie, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, is coming soon to a theater near you. I’m sure counseling will fix his problem of drawing coming attractions.

     Everything, apparently, is a psychological problem.

Dad wants answers after daughter draws gun pic
By KRIS SIMS, Parliamentary Bureau
Ont. dad arrested after daughter draws picture of gun.

OTTAWA – Jessie Sansone and his family are reeling after he was arrested and strip searched by police after his four-year-old daughter drew a picture of a man with a gun in her Kitchener, Ont., kindergarten class.

The 26-year-old father of four said Saturday the sketch was supposed to be him, getting the bad guys and monsters.

The school must have thought differently, as after Nevaeh drew it Wednesday, the school contacted Family and Children’s Services and they called police.

Waterloo Police met Sansone at the school when he tried to pick up his kids he was told he was charged with possession of a firearm. He was then handcuffed and put him in one of the several squad cars waiting outside, he said.

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      Charged with possession of a cartoon firearm. Surely, we must all be guilty of similar crimes?

"When I was finally able to see my family, after this ordeal was over, my little girl ran up and gave me a hug me and asked: ‘Daddy, are you mad at me?’" said Sansone, his voice choked. "How could she ever think that I would be mad at her? She knows this has to do with her drawing."

Sansone, and his wife, Stephanie, have been together since they were teenagers. They have four children, aged 10 years to 15 months, and Stephanie is five-months pregnant with their fifth child.
"Years ago, being really young parents we were given the cold shoulder, like we didn’t know how to raise our children, this feels like that again, because I felt totally alone in that cell," Sansone said. "We still can’t believe this happened to us."

Sansone had a scrape with the law five years ago, but has since turned his life around, left Toronto for Kingston, Ont., and has become a certified counsellor.

While Sansone was being strip searched at the police station: told to disrobe, lift his testicles and bend over, his wife was home with their 15-month-old daughter.

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    Again, we have citizens justifying their existence to the state by showing it they are “good persons”.

"They came to my house, told my wife that I had been charged with possession of firearms, that she would have to come with them, and that Sundae (their infant daughter) would have to go with the social worker," said Sansone. Stephanie called her Mom who rushed over to take Sundae instead.

"My littlest is still in diapers with a bottle. Thank goodness my mother-in-law lives nearby," Sansone said.

Once Stephanie got to the police station she had to wait.

"The detective was giving my wife the idea that our children were at the police station with her, just in another room at the station. She was waiting for over an hour, close to two hours, not knowing where the kids were," Sansone said.

His children had been at Family and Children’s Services, being interviewed by social workers.

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    With all the expertise that resides in that organization, I’m sure that the “problem” will be solved.

"So, my wife was really panicking at that point. So her and the detective drove down to children’s services. They questioned each of my children."

Now the family is trying their best to explain things to their kids.

"At that interview, I wasn’t there, my wife wasn’t there, but my boys, all they know right now is: ‘Daddy and guns, guns and Daddy’ – my kids knew all the police were at the school because of me. Now I have to explain to them how much of a mistake this is."

Sansone said police searched his house and found a plastic toy gun that shoots foam darts.

"So many people dealt with this situation in the wrong way," said Sansone.

"I know the principal really well, how could he judge my character in this way? I drop off and pick the kids up every day, I always say hello, I sign every report card, I go to every parent teacher meeting, I am an active parent at that school."

The family is trying to decide what to do next, and they are finding a new school for their children to attend.

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Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies