How to Really 'Drive' Teacher Performance

Much has been said about teachers and how to “get them” to teach more effectively. Anyone interested in finding effective strategies to drive a results-oriented teaching profession might want to take a look at Daniel Pink’s new book, Drive, where he posits that using a “carrots and sticks” approach alone will do more harm than good.

For a quick review of Pink's important insights, go to the Learning First Alliance Blog and check out Claus von Zastrow's fascinating interview with the business author and future-thinker. Pink believes we need to upgrade our teaching policy “operating system” to “Motivation 3.0” — a concept built around “the elements of autonomy, mastery and purpose.” This does not mean we do not use student performance data to drive our teacher development system. We must. But we need to use the data to identify high performers AND the reasons why they are high performing — and then our accountability system must ensure that those conditions are in place so teaching expertise can spread and students can learn.