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By Sam Blank for GuidanceChannel.com of Sunburst Visual Media
Teachers are many things! They are representatives of society, judges, sources of knowledge, helpers in learning, referees, role models, ego supporters, group leaders, surrogate parents, friends and confidants, targets of hostility and objects of affection. They are members of what might be called the people`s profession. Teachers apply special knowledge to solve educational problems and capitalize on opportunities to help young people live full, productive lives.
Clearly, our educational institutions would be better if we could grant our teachers, administrators and staff better materials, better working conditions and better pay. It would be terrific if we could employ wise leaders and have the support of an informed citizenry. To nurture the energy and vitality of educators seems to be a more worthy undertaking than to be obsessed with the scores students make on standardized exams. Staff recognition must endeavor to provide, at the least, a supportive “nod of the head,” so that teachers, administrators and staff do not feel underappreciated, undermined, overwhelmed, isolated, and vulnerable. Recognizing our nation’s educators is to recognize that people in this profession possess abundant courage and pledge their allegiance daily to the children and young people who have been placed in their care.
All people feel better and do better when you give
them attention, affirmation and appreciation.
At a recent gathering of more than 300 educators, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said, “We must treat our teachers like the professionals they are; that means we must reward teachers who make real progress closing the achievement gap in the most challenging classrooms." Secretary Spellings noted that the Milken National Educator Awards, which are presented to teachers and principals, offers the opportunity to reward educators for their hard work. "That`s something we don`t do often enough for teachers in this country. And it`s something we must change if we want to realize the promise of No Child Left Behind," she said.
Recognition can be defined as:
(1) The act of recognizing or condition of being recognized;
(2) An awareness that something perceived has been perceived before;
(3) An acceptance as true or valid, as of a claim; and,
(4) Attention or favorable notice.
Citing studies that show the importance of strong teachers to a child`s educational achievement, Spellings explained why No Child Left Behind required, that by 2006, every classroom have a highly qualified teacher. President Bush’s budget included almost $3 billion to help states meet this goal. However, public school systems often do not reward those teachers willing to take on the hardest assignments. To address this problem, President Bush has proposed a new $500 million Teacher Incentive Fund, which will provide states with money to reward teachers who take the toughest jobs and achieve real results. Additionally, a recent study by the bipartisan Teaching Commission showed that 76 percent of Americans and 77 percent of public school teachers supported incentive pay.
Successful schools and school districts incorporate staff recognition initiatives and strategies. The underlying purposes of this recognition may be to:
- Encourage individual faculty members to be better teachers. From this perspective; the hope is that the rewards will function as incentives.
- Identify faculty members who are dedicated and excellent teachers and hold them up as models to the campus community. The hope is that examples of excellence will inspire others to excellence.
- Compensate faculty members for the effort and skill they have brought to teaching. Here the acknowledgment is that teaching is part of the job of being a professional and those who do their jobs well are entitled to greater rewards than those who do their jobs less well.
- Demonstrate to students and to various external constituencies that we value excellence in teaching.
- Retain excellent teachers in our midst rather than have them drift off to other institutions that do reward excellence in teaching.
In addition to teachers and administrators, other school support staff -- paraprofessionals, secretaries, counselors, security personnel, transportation staff, cafeteria and custodial employees -- all have needs for recognition and rewards for work well done. Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics once said, “Every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me fee important’. If you can do that, you’ll be a success not only in business, but in life as well.”
When school staff commits to excellence, their accomplishments should be rewarded. When school staff shares a vision for teamwork and have set high standards and expectations and delivered positive results, their victories should be celebrated. Achieving, recognizing and celebrating excellence contains ten key attributes:
- Vision: the ability to keep long-term, future success as a constant guide
- Drive and Energy: the ability to concentrate mental and physical powers
- Confidence: the strong conviction that you can achieve what you want to do
- Ambition: the willingness to take initiatives to set benchmarks and reach high targets
- Competitive Spirit: the relentless pursuit to be the best
- Leadership: the ability to activate others to achieve team or group ambitions
- Self-criticism: facing up to mistakes and failures and learning from them
- Taking Risks: inclination to take chances rather than play safe
- Centered and Grounded: the ability to recover one’s balance, even in the midst of action and diversity and not be subject to passing whims
- Conflict Resolution: ability to employ honest communication and active listening skills to work through disagreements constructively
Many schools and school districts celebrate and honor teachers for their outstanding ability to communicate subject matter in an interesting, relevant, and effective manner; to use creative methods in classroom instruction; to continually upgrade and update their own education through classes, training, or staff development programs; to participate in activities within the profession, keeping aware of issues and trends, encouraging professionalism, and making a contribution; and, to show a sincere commitment to be a champion for students, schools, and community.
Teaching is a very complex activity. To talk about rewarding teaching requires that we know something about what we think teaching is. What aspects of teaching shall we reward?
- Quality of presentation: Should we reward those who lecture, lead discussions, or coach skills exceptionally well?
- Quality of curriculum development: Should we attend to the ways in which courses are designed and the tasks that teachers set for their students?
- Quality of student learning assessment: Should we attend to the ways in which a faculty member assesses what his or her students have learned?
- Quantity of teaching: Should we attend to how much someone contributes to the teaching mission of their unit in allocating rewards?
- Contributions to the school’s local community and district visibility: Should we reward people for writing textbooks, heading organizations devoted to teaching in their disciplines, serving on committees?
- Contributions to the growth of other teachers: Does the training of novice teachers or the mentoring of less-experienced faculty members count?
- Engagement of all stakeholders: Should we recognize the ways in which the teacher collaborates with parents, caregivers, local community members?
In general, people do their jobs well if they want to (i.e., are motivated), if they are able to, and if the organization both provides support and removes obstacles that stand in the way of good performance. Recognition and rewards are often really aimed only at the motivational component. Perhaps, we sometimes make the mistake of using recognition and rewards to provide incentives for individuals to overcome obstacles instead of addressing the obstacles directly.
Theories of motivation should be able to explain what energizes and channels our behavior, as well as what sustains or terminates it. The overwhelming body of research in the subject of motivation of behavior tends to be organized around two theoretical orientations: content theory (What turns me on?), and process theory (What’s in it for me?). Inherent in both theories are the concepts of goals and rewards. The goal is the object or outcome we are aiming for, as well as the standard by which one evaluates performance. Vague and ambiguous goals result in a minimum effort of engagement and are not usually celebrated or rewarded.
Commitment and intensity are the other key attributes of goal-driven motivation, where commitment refers to the degree to which we are attached to the goal, consider it significant, and have a determination to reach it in the face of setbacks. Intensity is a vital element of commitment and refers to the degree to which we pursue that goal. The amount of energy school staff brings to their work is always tempered by our personal abilities as well as by the degree of personal commitment. Recognizing achievement in these areas will, not only celebrate success, but, strengthen and sustain further effort to excel. In The Enthusiastic Employee, author David Sirota identifies three factors of human motivation as equity (being treated justly, fairly and respectfully), camaraderie (having warm, interesting and cooperative relations with others in the workplace), and achievement (taking pride in one’s accomplishments by doing things that matter and doing them well and receiving recognition).
Staff recognition conducted at the school level often has the following objectives in mind:
- To publicly recognize the efforts and contributions of staff
- To increase public awareness of the staff’s responsibility in helping children to develop their ideals and goals
- To show appreciation for a variety of many fine educational achievements
- To acknowledge the many years of training that staff members undertake to prepare for and stay current in their profession
- To strengthen ties between students, teachers, administrators, and staff and to bring about a greater understanding between generations
- To celebrate individual success and achievement.
School culture is the heart and soul of the school organization. School cultures are composed first and foremost of individuals, and thus individuals need to be the focus of schoolwide innovations and successes. School improvement efforts, redesign and reform must include recognition of achievement. School culture, professional development, and the celebration of successes are interactive. In many of our nation’s schools, teachers and staff rarely observe each other teaching and interacting with children. They seldom collaborate in serious analysis of and reflection on their teaching. Providing opportunities for recognizing achievement not only offers rewards for individuals, but also sets a venue for the sharing of ideas, successes, and strategies. In short, it makes time for collaboration and collegiality. As we recognize staff for their individual success, we work within the school community to validate innovation, creativity, humanism, and we continue to build trust, vision and support.
In Getting Better Teachers and Treating Them Right, Chester Finn, Jr. says, “American teachers do not get the respect, the freedom, the compensation or the rewards that many of them deserve. At the same time U. S. schools are not producing satisfactory results; a problem not likely to be solved until our classrooms are filled with excellent teachers. Every child needs and deserves a knowledgeable, dedicated, and effective instructor, well grounded in academic content, expert at imparting knowledge and skills to children, and passionate about this calling.”
Our early emphasis on human relations was not motivated by altruism,
but by the simple belief that if we respected our people
and helped them respect themselves,
the company would grow.
~ Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Founder, I.B.M.
The National Association for Employee Recognition states that reward and praise throughout an organization is instrumental in reducing turnover, increasing productivity and creating a positive work environment. A paycheck is not reward enough for employees. When an employee feels they serve a purpose and are being noticed for doing a good job, they will embrace the organization’s mission, goals and values, work above their standards, take fewer sick days, and are willing to put forth the extra effort for the company. Thefoundationof recognition and motivation is that people need and wantacceptance, approval and appreciation. Almost all positive motivation is based on these needs. People want toknowthat what they do makes a difference. Establishing criteria to recognize staff performance and achievement will vary from place to place, but the follow tips are usually germane to most schools:
- All staff must be eligible for the recognition.
- The recognition must supply the employer and employee with specific information about what behaviors or actions are being rewarded and recognized.
- Anyone who then performs at the level or standard stated in the criteria receives the reward.
- The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.
- The selection process for recognition should be public.
- Recognize good efforts, not just results.
Increasingly, educators look for multiple rewards from their work. Perhaps one of the biggest rewards comes when it becomes profusely clear that the students have mastered the work… it’s the moment when one sees that the light of understanding has been ignited in a child’s mind. Perhaps Terry Borton, the author of Reach, Touch, Teach, said it best, “The common teacher is not common at all. He (or she) is bulging with talent, with energy, and with understanding. What we human teachers have to give, ultimately, is ourselves -- our own love for life, and for our subject, and our ability to respond to the personal concerns of our students.”
Monetary rewards, merit pay, bonuses and other financial payments are usually not incentives offered to people in the teaching profession. Indeed, all teachers and school staff are attracted by competitive wages, yet there is an understanding that other types of acknowledgment can motivate educators and school staff. Successful school districts and administrators realize that the most valuable asset is human capital. In many cases, because of the sheer size of local school systems, staffs may be uncertain about the value of their work and contributions. To many teachers, feeling that their efforts are valued may be just as important as getting a bonus, and some staff may even place personal fulfillment above monetary compensation.
Employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create in an educational environment. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with a chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors that most want to see people repeat. An effective staff recognition system should be simple, immediate, and can be powerfully reinforcing. A recognition program does not have to be expensive. The structure of a recognition program is limited only by your imagination. An effective program is fare and has high visibility and consistency.
Studies show that employees who find personal fulfillment in their work are not only more productive, but they also manage their time better, accept more responsibilities and challenges, and stay longer in their jobs. Research also indicates that employers typically assume that job security, wages, and titles are what matters most to employees. Employees, however, cite that, above all else, they want appreciation and trust from their supervisors. In fact, staff members who feel trusted in their work are shown to be more likely to meet or exceed goals, report higher levels of satisfaction, and bolster achievement among their colleagues.
High-achieving employees expect, and deserve, to be recognized for their work and esteemed by their colleagues. Rewards and recognition that help both the employer and the employee get what they need from work are a win-win situation. Schools have many ways to ensure that accomplished staff members receive the recognition they deserve. Aside from the usual “Teacher-of-the-Month” or “Secretary-of-the-Month” certificate award, following by a free breakfast or luncheon festivity, school organizations can recognize staff in many other ways. The appropriate recognition solutions should grow out of the school organization’s unique culture and challenges. Some successful recognition solutions might include: (1) granting more decision-making responsibility; (2) offering new leadership/mentoring roles; (3) showcasing their work and making it available, if appropriate, to others; (4) offering flex time to attend professional conferences and workshops; and, (5) rewarding them with special designations.
Whatever approach is used to recognize staff accomplishment, it is clear that employers realize that staff members want to meet new challenges, develop new skills, and grow professionally, as well as personally. Smart school districts recognize this desire and provide extensive professional development opportunities, understanding how central they are to attracting and retaining the most talented employees. Staff recognition is really about believing in people, emphasizing their strengths, and encouraging the dreams of others.
ABOUT SAM BLANK
Sam Blank is an Adjunct Professor of Education at Pace University’s Graduate Program in Educational Leadership. He is also a staff developer with Educators for Social Responsibility. He has served as the Manhattan District Director of School Leadership Teams and Conflict Resolution Centers for the New York City Department of Education. In addition to more than twenty-eight years of experience as a classroom teacher and Dean of Students, Professor Blank has provided consultative services as an instructional designer, trainer and workshop leader for such organizations as Teachers College, the NYC Commission on Human Rights, Nassau County BOCES, Berkeley College, the Chancellor`s Office of Parent Advocacy and Engagement, the Boys’ Club of New York, Bethpage UFSD, Smith Barney, DaimlerChrysler, Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the American Museum of the Moving Image.
