5 Lessons Teachers Can Learn From a Startup Mindset
With the potential to disrupt a troubled system, but limited resources to do it, teachers have more in common with startups than you think. They could learn a lot from a startup mindset.
Our education system faces serious challenges. We are continually asking our teachers to do more with less. Tasked with delivering the “perfect” education because our “children’s futures are at stake”, they simply don’t have the time or resources to deliver. Where can teachers turn for inspiration? Startups. The best startups are masters at disrupting troubled systems and driving innovation with limited resources. Teachers could learn a lot from the startup mindset, here are 5 places to start:
1) Relentlessly Challenge the Status Quo
The status quo has been enshrined over decades, make that centuries, of teaching. You only need to look at the fundamental assumptions underlying education to understand how little has changed. Why are school years a year? Why do we go to one school for all subjects? Why do we have such a long break in the summer? The list goes on. If education is to move forward, many of today’s assumptions must be left behind. I know many teachers feel their hands are tied by government bureaucracy, but change needs to start somewhere.
Startups can teach educators a lot about challenging assumptions and disrupting the status quo, that’s why many of them were formed in the first place. Before Uber, taxi companies owned cars. Before Dyson, vacuum cleaners had bags. If teachers continue to take assumptions as given, we are never going to move the education system forward. Teachers need to examine every assumption, the more ingrained, the greater the potential for disruption.
“Teachers need to examine every assumption, the more ingrained, the greater the potential for disruption.”
2) Experiment Small and Often
The best teachers are always encouraging their students to experiment and discover new things. We should encourage teachers to teach what they preach and experiment themselves. Yes, it’s risky. Yes, it’s understandable that teachers are hesitant as they don’t want to screw up any child’s education. However, by standing still we will eventually screw up all children’s education.
I’m not saying that teachers should experiment wildly and bet the farm. The best startups don’t do that either. However, they do take calculated risks. They conduct a series of tiny (and as importantly, cheap) experiments to see what works and what doesn’t without losing sight of the overall mission. Teachers should be encouraged to do likewise and education authorities should give them the bandwidth to do so.
3) Test to Isolate Cause and Effect
There is a fundamental flaw in traditional testing. When test scores are poor, it’s difficult to isolate issues as they can be multi-factor problems. When kids bring home bad test scores, most parents are quick to blame the child. The reasons are endless, the student isn’t smart enough, they didn’t prepare well enough for the test, they’re not good test takers. With so many variables, we can’t just simply look at the what. We need to understand the why and that requires isolating problems.
Startups are masters at isolating problems. They use A/B split tests and other techniques to isolate problems and their causes. Teachers can learn from these techniques. For example, they could isolate test anxiety by conducting clandestine testing to assess performance when children do not know they’re being tested and compare that to performance in announced tests. For those students with anxiety problems perhaps teachers should focus on relaxation techniques rather than traditional test prep. Every child is different; we can’t hope to improve their education unless we can isolate the specific challenges they face.
4) Accelerate Feedback Loops
Remember earlier when I asked why nobody was challenging the assumption that school “years” run a year? Well, that year has become the standard feedback loop in most school systems. Over those long summer breaks (another assumption!), educators sit down and look at the performance data from the prior year to inform decisions for the following year. A year is a really long time to continue along a path if it’s not working. If we are going to do more with less, it’s essential that we minimize waste on failing initiatives.
If startups waited a year before completing their feedback loop, most would die. They work tirelessly to accelerate feedback loops using lean startup methodologies to build, measure and learn. The faster they can get validation that something is working (or not), the faster they can build upon their success (or abort their failures). Teachers should accelerate their feedback loops. They should consider building shorter courses, solicit continuous feedback (by using tools such as the Gooru app) and expedite learning from their successes and failures. Perhaps, we should spend less time on teaching for the test and more time on testing for the teach.
“Perhaps, we should spend less time on teaching for the test and more time on testing for the teach.”
5) Build the Ecosystem
Startups realize that they don’t have the resources to solve complicated problems all by themselves. That’s why they build ecosystems containing the resources required to collectively overcome their individual shortcomings. They crowdsource solutions. Education ecosystems are way too fragmented with insufficient collaboration across stakeholders. When was the last time you participated in a meeting attended by students, parents, teachers, school executives, peers from other schools, policy makers and private sector partners? The likely answer is never. If we are going to do more with less, we need to build integrated ecosystems where we can collectively share the resources required to build a more robust and dynamic system.
It’s Time to Think Like a Startup…
Startups know how to disrupt troubled systems using limited resources. They challenge the status quo to uncover revolutionary ideas and then conduct a series of tiny experiments to isolate problems, accelerate feedback and enhance solutions. They build coalitions of the willing to share resources enabling them to collectively achieve more with less. Faced with a troubled system and limited resources, teachers could benefit greatly from adopting a startup mindset. The future of our children and the education system that supports them depends on it.
Originally published at www.thelatlabs.com on July 5, 2017.
