If we want teachers to focus less on grades and more on feedback and growth, don’t we as administrators need to do the same?

Eric is a principal at Hall Middle School in Larkspur, CA. Eric is the co-founder of Global School Play Day which is dedicated to promoting the idea that kids learn more when they play.

We are famous, as educators, for asking others to take risks. Teachers do this to students, and administrators do it to teachers. We see risk taking as a key element of learning and growth. The problem is that we often assume that the conditions for risk are optimal.

Is it true that rigid structures are more resistant to gaming? And perhaps even more important, is gaming the system really a bad thing?

We have become accustomed to equating the student with the grade itself. Consequently, when we utter a number or letter, we believe we have adequately defined human being who sits in our classroom.