Creative Thinking and the Spin Doctors

Usually creative thinking in school evokes images of students producing a product or demonstrating a way of thinking that is unusual and highly praised by teachers.  It is often best evidenced in a science or an English classroom.  In science you can offer a student an invitation to design a product that fulfills a certain purpose and perhaps they construct a water filter made from unusual materials that actually works as well as any Brita filter.  Or in English class a student may write a short story showing connections between varying subject matter and in a style worthy of a graduate student. 

I am here to say that most of the creative thinking in schools is done by those in charge of county policy, not by our students.  You may argue, aren’t teachers the ones who are creative?  Thoughts of differentiation with 5  lesson plans per class to address all the varying levels, styles, aspirations, dreams, disorders, disabilities, strengths, premenstrual days……of our students….

Yes, teachers should be creative.  That is, unless you teach math.  Math is math, right?  And history never changes, so what’s the point in dressing that pig in a silk dress?  Just make a few worksheets, give a multiple choice test that you give them the answers to beforehand and at least 75% of the class will pass.  Finally, let the loser 25% take the test 2 or 3 more times online (the same questions) to move your pass rate up past 80%, that golden area that lets you escape the watchful eye of administrators.  Yes, ever since No Child Left Behind, teachers have become more creative.   And we are praised for it!  By the administrators….Look….our pass rate is exceeding expectation……

But I digress, let’s talk about county level administrators.  After all, they are the true spin doctors in our story. 

In our state, if an honors or advanced placement class is taught by a teacher who is gifted certified then that school qualifies for additional  funds. Gifted certified teachers are required to take an extensive one year program, with as much work as a masters degree.  The “creative thinkers” in my county decided to let ANYONE teach honors and advanced placement classes.  This set up a dilemma.  Most of these people weren’t certified.  This meant loss of state funds.  In order to circumvent just such an occurence, the county came up with this: instead of the year long intensive twice a week class course that teaches all about gifted students, their requirements, differentiation of instruction, varying assessment strategies and state and national policies, they instituted a 1 1/2 day inservice to allow these uncertified teachers to become certified.

Something doesn’t smell right.  They are purporting to have gifted certified teachers in the classroom with gifted students.  This then would allow more money to flow to the school.  As a teacher who went through the rigorous one year program, I am trying to figure out how these spin doctors did this.  How have they convinced the state that these teachers are truly gifted certified? 

And once the gifted endorsement is on your certificate, it is there for life.  You then appear to have completed a rigorous training that you didn’t.  But, it is the county who approves what goes on  your certificate.  I stood there and watch the lady say, hmmm…looking at your coursework, I’d also certify you for middle grades english, social studies and science…I have a biology degree and a high school life sciences education degree.

So who’s really doing the creative thinking in our schools?  The students, the teachers, the administrators or those even higher up in county administration?