The Matthew Effect

Educators are always discussing the critical role of vocabulary acquisition for literacy. It is well documented that reading 20 minutes a day is the most effective way for children to increase their vocabulary. As afar back as 1990, Keith Stanovich described something called the Matthew Effect. It is based on the passage of Matthew (25:29) in the New Testament: "For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." In other words, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Stanovich used the term to describe the phenomenon that early success in acquiring reading skills usually leads to later successes in reading, while failing to learn to read before third grade often leads to lifelong learning problems.

The following link gives information on Pareto's Principle. Loosely translated, it means that in anything, a few people (maybe 20%) are vital and many (maybe 80%) are trivial. What a divergent point of view from Mr. Spock's famous line, "logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Unfortunately, it is the Pareto Principle that seems to be driving New York State Ed Department. I must communicate to my teachers, my principals, my parent community, and my students that we are all much more than a number. http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. While it may be misnamed, Pareto's Principle or Pareto's Law as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool to help you manage effectively. Where It Came From After Pareto made his observation and created his formula, many others observed similar phenomena in their own areas of expertise. Quality Management pioneer, Dr. Joseph Juran, working in the US in the 1930s and 40s recognized a universal principle he called the "vital few and trivial many" and reduced it to writing. In an early work, a lack of precision on Juran's part made it appear that he was applying Pareto's observations about economics to a broader body of work. The name Pareto's Principle stuck, probably because it sounded better than Juran's Principle. As a result, Dr. Juran's observation of the "vital few and trivial many", the principle that 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80/20 Rule. What It Means The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many(80 percent) are trivial. In Pareto's case it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran's initial work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems. Project Managers know that 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consume 80 percent of your time and resources. You can apply the 80/20 Rule to almost anything, from the science of management to the physical world.

Kim Marshall

Last Thursday I attended a great workshop. It was given by Kim Marshall, author of Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation. Not only was the workshop great, it truly inspired me. I haven't felt inspired in a long time. The endless assessments, and the APPR machinations, and the results of the assessments have really bogged me down. I was not sure how I was going to lead my teachers or support them or cheer them on. The Marshall workshop was no magic bullet. However, it did provide me with some good common sense suggestions about supervision. Here are some questions that were asked: What's the ideal frequency of school visits by supervisors? Should supervisor's visits be announced or unannounced? If you are supervising a principal, should the principal get a brief write-up after each school visit? What the workshop did was NOT answer these questions. The answers change and are different for different districts. The trick is in thinking about the answers to these questions with your stakeholders. Maybe I needed help in asking the right questions. One of the questions that was asked during the workshop really hit home with me. "Is there a secret code in your school when anyone from Central Office arrives?" Years ago, when I was in the classroom, we would send a student around with a green ruler signaling the Superintendent was in the building. I had forgotten all about that. One of Marshall's most provocative suggestions was using student surveys. Certainly, the students are the most vested stakeholders. I was curious about how many districts do this. I think this could be really helpful. It would be a bit of a culture shift, but so helpful. Marshall also showed the formula that NYC is using for their value added model. He reported that for ELA if has a confidence interval of 53 points. How is this possible? This statistic smacked me in the head. We are so much more than a number. I must remember that. Michael Fullan said that, "Nothing undermines the motivation of hard-working teachers more than poor performance in other teachers being ignored over long periods of time. Not only do poor-performing teachers negatively affect the students in their classes, but they also have a spillover effect by poisoning the overall climate of the school." One of my most important jobs is to thank a teacher for a job well done. The Marshall Memo is one of the best ed publications around. You can view it at www.marshallmemo.com.