The other day I described my visit to a juvenile hall in Austin and spoke about visiting the kids. Reaching them is tough work – as anyone who works with this population will attest – but the strategy which guides me is often from around two metaphors: M&M’s and ponytails.

Incarcerated kids are hard on the outside. They move about with cold looks on their faces, often in single file line, frequently trying to make sure that they do not shows signs of “weakness” to fellow inmates.

Smiling warmly, making kind, compassionate eye contact… that’s usually not their thing. Thus, they are hard on the outside.

But being kids, they are also soft in the center. Beyond that shell is a gooey middle. 14 year olds might like to think they are 30 year olds but they are not and often, it’s my experience that, like an M&M candy, kids in juvenile hall are hard on the outside but soft in the middle. (BTW, I don’t think this is an original analogy. I think I heard it applied somewhere else and adapted it along my own journey. Not sure – just want to be honest about that.)

And emotionally getting to these kids is like getting through the tangled ponytail of a 4 year old girl. If you just set out with a brush and start to pull, she’s gonna fight you and moan and complain and eventually win out. Ripping through the mess is fight waiting to be lost with this crowd. You have to move slowly, earn trust that you’re not going to hurt them (as they have been hurt before) and you have to go at the pace of the knotted ponytail… not on any schedule you hope to impose.

But ponytail knots often follow a pattern. First they are hard and seem impossible to work through and then, with slow, patient, gentle, thoughtful effort, you start to make a little progress and soon enough, you’ve earned the trust of the ponytail’s owner and you recognize that you’ve actually made headway.

And then, if you have any No More Tangles solution you can spray in, often this will be the thing that will lead to a genuine breakthrough.

But getting through the ponytail knots of 4 year olds is much simpler than getting through the emotional knots of incarcerated kids.

And if you can put their crimes aside (trust me, a VERY hard thing to do in a heck of a lot of cases) what you will find is often a kid who had so many emotional knots before they committed the crime that sent them to do time that you realize we nee more resources, more time, and probably most of all, a safe space where they can re-enter society.

Cause once they get out, even if thir ponytail knots were combed through, if they go right back into the environment in which they were, they will often end up right back behind bars.

M&M’s and ponytail knots: easy to talk about, much more challenging to really solve.

I am a huge fan of teacher autonomy. Trust me on this. I used to be a pariah, now I am considered an innovator. Either way, it’s my own internal teaching compass which always drives my class and if you look at all the writing I have done, I really don’t feel the need to open this post with a defense of myself on this front.

I believe I can be taken at my word – I am a HUGE fan of teacher autonomy.

However, teacher autonomy has wrought having scores of unfit boneheads in the classroom and they are doing so much damage — and they operate with virtual impunity in an unchecked manner that’s making almost a mockery of teaching as a profession… to say nothing of how the application of common sense employment guidelines are being kicked to the curb – and there needs to be reform.

Is the federal government’s desire to measure teacher effectiveness really an oligarchical march to power with an eye towards submarining democracy? Sure, the point actually has a small speck of merit because politicians are psychos… but to me, this is about “How do I know that the 9th grade English teacher down the hall isn’t checking her Facebook page all day instead of actually educating the children in her room?”

Because that is what is really going on out there.

And so, do we stall efforts at reforming the system so that the people who are literally stealing from our kids and taxpayers get outed and addressed or do we get mired in fighting off the shadows of potential dystopia through ceding to a measurement system?

Personally, I don’t even think the decision is a close call.

We really, right now, have a segment of teachers that do not deserve to be in the classroom. We also have a segment of teachers that are rock stars. And we have practically no means of knowing who is who. As a result, we are worse off for it. The top teachers can be empowered to expand their influence and the bottom teachers can be reigned in to re-adjust theirs, if we were only to know, who is who.

Now, if this means I am setting myself up to be an unwitting lemming that empowers the forces of oligarchy to finally seize control of democracy once and for all, then I think what really has come to pass is that we have lost the ability to apply some common sense to this issue.

I need to know if the sixth grade teacher down the hall is actually teaching pre-algebra to her kids or if she’s playing soduku.

CAUSE THAT IS WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON!

And if she’s the universe’s most awesome pre-algebra teacher, the pied piper of factoring equations, maybe she should be turned to as a thought leader on this subject area so that others can learn from her methods?

That’s what I believe measuring teacher effectiveness is all about.

One one hand it’s about outing the lemons. On the other hand it’s about taking advantage of our best talent to expand their “sphere of influence”.

And for those in the middle — most of us — it’s about identifying ways to see our strengths, recognize our weaknesses and see how we can better grow as professionals.

But there’s no trust. That’s what the conspiracy theories illuminate for me. We believe nefarious evil-doers are at the gate waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting sheep who lower their democratic guard for a minute.

Naahhhh. It’s about the fact that our entire system is riddled by a lack of trust. We don’t trust our federal government, we don’t trust our school districts, we don’t trust administrators and we hardly trust one another.

It’s like an overweight person getting on a scale. Only the people this person trusts get to see the number of pounds posted. And if you are forced on the scale, it’s an exercise in shame.

But if you can get the person to the scale willingly – because they trust that you are there to help them become more healthy, lose some weight, let go of some issues that are interfering with their ability to be better — you can make some real headway.

How can we really see where we are and learn how to improve if we are so unwilling to actually see where we are?

This is not about dystopian power plays. This is about common sense. People are being paid to do jobs. How are they doing?

We have no means of answering that question and it’s a gaping hole.

I love data. It entertains me greatly.

People collect data.
People save data.
People create data.
People fabricate data.
People withold data.

Really, what can’t be done with data?

People spin data.
People generate data.
People ask for data.
People research data.

I bet there’s even data about data.

I used to think I knew some things… until I saw the data.
I used to think I could believe in things… until I saw the data.

Now I am not sure if I know anything… until I see the data.

Data, I love you.
And, Data, I hate you, too.

And you know what, Data? For both declarations I can surely provide you data.

Data, You Make Me Smile!!

I wanna hug your data!

Here’s a a phrase for the tombstone of public education: “trust not in humans; trust in data.”