Principles of Good Teaching Based on the Educational Philosophy of John Dewey

Principles of Good Teaching Based on the Educational Philosophy of John Dewey

(Acero, et al., 2000)

 (a)  Teaching is good when it is based on the psychology of learning. This is based on the  concept
        that the child is made the center of the educative process. The nature of the child and the nature   
        of     the learning process and the laws that govern its operation determine the type of teaching    
        to    be done by the teacher.

Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It's about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It's about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students.

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

(b)    Teaching is good when it is well-planned such that the activities and experiences of the learner are continuously related and interrelated into larger, more meaningful, more inclusive, relation patterns.

Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge. It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals. Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice. It's about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaisoning with their communities.

·         Schedule time for planning and preparation.

·         Know what students need to know, what is essential and what is nice but not necessary.

·         Know your students and be aware of their individual differences in motivation, interest, etc.

·         Diagnosis: Find out what students already know.

·         Prescription: Select appropriate learning objectives, not too easy and not too hard.

·         Collect appropriate materials and curriculum.

·         Prerequisites: Determine if children have the skills they need to succeed at a new task. If not, teach the prerequisites first.

·         Task analysis: Break assignments into "bite-sized" pieces, small sequential steps.

·         Timing: Do not introduce too much at once. Step by tiny step will maximize success.

·         Readiness: To check for readiness, offer tryout activities and adjust expectations as needed.

·         Early success: Plan carefully to ensure early success when introducing something very new.

·         Prepare checklists or contracts so students know exactly what is expected of them.

(c )  Teaching is good when the learner is made conscious of the goals or aims to be accomplished. This concept calls for proper motivation.

Create clear student learning goals for each course, unit, and class period.  Structure the course unit and lesson with these goals in mind.

The identification and articulation of the learning goals and objectives provides the foundation for the instructional design, development, delivery, and assessment of an educational event. These defined goals serve as the contract between the instructor and student, defining what is to be taught and what is to be learned. Communicating these learning goals is a crucial step in assuring an effective learning experience.

Specific instructional activities should be directed toward providing learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, or experiences to meet the goals and objectives of the course. The course content should be sequenced and structured to enable learners to achieve the goals articulated in the learning outcomes.

When learners interact with one another, with an instructor, and with ideas, new information is acquired, interpreted, and made meaningful. Such interactions form the foundation of a community of learners. If students feel they are part of a community of learners, they are more apt to be motivated to seek solutions to their problems and to succeed.

(d)   Learning is good when it provides learning experiences or situations that will insure understanding. Good teaching requires a rich environment of instructional materials and devices. Instructional materials and devices will challenge the attention of the learner, stimulate thinking, and facilitate understanding which make learning more meaningful.

(e)    Teaching is good when there is provision to meet individual differences. This is based on the psychological principle that individuals differ from each other in their learning potential. To be effective, teaching must treat the learner as he is, but at the same time with reference to what he might become.

Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering that each student and class is different. It's about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students. It's about pushing students to excel; at the same time, it's about being human, respecting others, and being professional at all times.

There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learning in ways that do not come so easily.

(f)    Teaching is good when it utilizes the past experiences of the learner. This concept is based on the principle of apperception. This means that learning is easier when you start from what the pupils already know.

Prepare thoroughly for the whole course, unit, and each lesson.  Ask questions of the material that your students are also likely to have.

Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence. In classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. At various points, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

(g)    Teaching is good when the learner is stimulated to think and to reason. The best teaching method is that which liberates and encourages thinking. Effective teaching involves differentiation and integration or analysis and synthesis. Generalization of facts learned is important in teaching for transfer.

Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge. It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals. Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice. It's about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaisoning with their communities.

(h)    Teaching is good when it is governed by democratic principles. In democratic teaching, social relationship is placed on a plane of natural respect, cooperation, tolerance, and fair play. Teaching to be effective must be governed by love and understanding. In other words, the learners are free from emotional tension.

Good teaching is about caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents. It's about devoting time, often invisible, to every student. It's also about the thankless hours of grading, designing or redesigning courses, and preparing materials to still further enhance instruction.

This is very important -- good teaching is about humor. It's about being self-deprecating and not taking yourself too seriously. It's often about making innocuous jokes, mostly at your own expense, so that the ice breaks and students learn in a more relaxed atmosphere where you, like them, are human with your own share of faults and shortcomings.

(i)     Teaching is good when the method used is supplemented by another method and instructional devices. It is an accepted fact that good method is a synthesis of many methods. This is based on the principles that the best learning takes place when a greater number of senses are stimulated and utilized in the process.

Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances. It's about getting only 10 percent of what you wanted to do in a class done and still feeling good. It's about deviating from the course syllabus or lecture schedule easily when there is more and better learning elsewhere. Good teaching is about the creative balance between being an authoritarian dictator on the one hand and a pushover on the other.

·         Gather materials, equipment and supplies beforehand.

·         Review related concepts, vocabulary and ideas.

·         Show enthusiasm and interest.

·         Prove an overview or outline of the lesson or unit. Move from whole to part to whole.

·         Objective: State and have students state the objective.

·         Purpose: Why is this important to learn?

·         Transfer: How does this relate to what you already know? Help students organize and connect new knowledge to old.

·         Clearly present information. Do not include non-essential information or distractors.

·         Move from simple to complex.

·         Move from known to unknown.

·         Model or demonstrate examples as well as non-examples.

·         Actively involve students. Use variety.

·         Adjust the level of questions to student ability.

·         Check for understanding frequently.

·         Feedback: Use criticism sparingly. Provide prompt feedback with reasons.

·         Guided practice: Closely monitor practice in the early stages of learning. Aim for at least 80% success.

·         Closure: At the end of a lesson, summarize or have the child summarize what was learned.

·         Review and reteach as often as necessary.

(j)   Teaching is good when evaluation is made an integral part of the teaching process. Evaluation is part and parcel of teaching. Evaluation measures the effectiveness of teaching and learning and completes the function which is essential in teaching. Teaching is meaningful only when the results of teaching are achieved.

Assessment and measurement serve valuable purposes for both instructors and students because they provide information on learner progress, they measure achievement of learning goals, and they provide learners with benchmarks for monitoring their progress and adjusting their learning strategies.

Assessment instruments and activities should be congruent with the learning goals and should be consistent with the skills required of the learner throughout the learning process.

Assessment and measurement strategies should be employed as integral parts of the learning experience--enabling learners to assess their progress, to identify areas for review, and to reestablish immediate learning or lesson goals.

Assessment and measurement strategies should accommodate the special needs, characteristics, and situations of the learner.

·         The teacher is accountable to someone for diligently pursuing goals and plans.

·         Self-discipline, diligence and timeliness are emphasized and rewarded.

·         Students are held responsible for completing work on time and doing a quality job.

·         A method exists to keep track of goals and achievements. Examples: plan book, student contracts or checklists, conferences.

·         Informal evaluation takes place constantly.

·         Formal evaluation (testing) is used as needed so that students can demonstrate their mastery.

·         Grades are essentially comparative and punitive. Better to keep a running list of accomplishments.

·         Evaluation is used as a basis for selecting future objectives.

(k) Teaching is good when drill or review is made an integral part of teaching and learning. The teacher must bear in mind that drill and review have different meanings and functions. The purpose of review is to bring out relationships of facts learned to give new view or new meaning.

·         Practice is directly related to the lesson objective.

·         Students are not distracted during practice time.

·         Directions for practice are clear.

·         Adequate practice is provided to ensure mastery.

·         Generous feedback is given early on.

·         Guided practice is closely monitored. It is "practice without penalty" and receives no grades or marks.

·         Students should have about an 80% success rate before independent practice is assigned.

·         Practice is distributed over time. Practice is less frequent after initial instruction but continues until mastery is achieved.

·         "Mental practice" is encouraged.

Principles of Good Teaching Based on the Educational Philosophy of John Dewey

Principles of Good Teaching Based on the Educational Philosophy of John Dewey

(Acero, et al., 2000)

 (a)  Teaching is good when it is based on the psychology of learning. This is based on the  concept
        that the child is made the center of the educative process. The nature of the child and the nature   
        of     the learning process and the laws that govern its operation determine the type of teaching    
        to    be done by the teacher.

Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It's about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It's about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students.

Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

(b)    Teaching is good when it is well-planned such that the activities and experiences of the learner are continuously related and interrelated into larger, more meaningful, more inclusive, relation patterns.

Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge. It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals. Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice. It's about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaisoning with their communities.

·         Schedule time for planning and preparation.

·         Know what students need to know, what is essential and what is nice but not necessary.

·         Know your students and be aware of their individual differences in motivation, interest, etc.

·         Diagnosis: Find out what students already know.

·         Prescription: Select appropriate learning objectives, not too easy and not too hard.

·         Collect appropriate materials and curriculum.

·         Prerequisites: Determine if children have the skills they need to succeed at a new task. If not, teach the prerequisites first.

·         Task analysis: Break assignments into "bite-sized" pieces, small sequential steps.

·         Timing: Do not introduce too much at once. Step by tiny step will maximize success.

·         Readiness: To check for readiness, offer tryout activities and adjust expectations as needed.

·         Early success: Plan carefully to ensure early success when introducing something very new.

·         Prepare checklists or contracts so students know exactly what is expected of them.

(c )  Teaching is good when the learner is made conscious of the goals or aims to be accomplished. This concept calls for proper motivation.

Create clear student learning goals for each course, unit, and class period.  Structure the course unit and lesson with these goals in mind.

The identification and articulation of the learning goals and objectives provides the foundation for the instructional design, development, delivery, and assessment of an educational event. These defined goals serve as the contract between the instructor and student, defining what is to be taught and what is to be learned. Communicating these learning goals is a crucial step in assuring an effective learning experience.

Specific instructional activities should be directed toward providing learners with the necessary skills, knowledge, or experiences to meet the goals and objectives of the course. The course content should be sequenced and structured to enable learners to achieve the goals articulated in the learning outcomes.

When learners interact with one another, with an instructor, and with ideas, new information is acquired, interpreted, and made meaningful. Such interactions form the foundation of a community of learners. If students feel they are part of a community of learners, they are more apt to be motivated to seek solutions to their problems and to succeed.

(d)   Learning is good when it provides learning experiences or situations that will insure understanding. Good teaching requires a rich environment of instructional materials and devices. Instructional materials and devices will challenge the attention of the learner, stimulate thinking, and facilitate understanding which make learning more meaningful.

(e)    Teaching is good when there is provision to meet individual differences. This is based on the psychological principle that individuals differ from each other in their learning potential. To be effective, teaching must treat the learner as he is, but at the same time with reference to what he might become.

Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering that each student and class is different. It's about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students. It's about pushing students to excel; at the same time, it's about being human, respecting others, and being professional at all times.

There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learning in ways that do not come so easily.

(f)    Teaching is good when it utilizes the past experiences of the learner. This concept is based on the principle of apperception. This means that learning is easier when you start from what the pupils already know.

Prepare thoroughly for the whole course, unit, and each lesson.  Ask questions of the material that your students are also likely to have.

Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence. In classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. At various points, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

(g)    Teaching is good when the learner is stimulated to think and to reason. The best teaching method is that which liberates and encourages thinking. Effective teaching involves differentiation and integration or analysis and synthesis. Generalization of facts learned is important in teaching for transfer.

Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge. It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals. Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice. It's about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaisoning with their communities.

(h)    Teaching is good when it is governed by democratic principles. In democratic teaching, social relationship is placed on a plane of natural respect, cooperation, tolerance, and fair play. Teaching to be effective must be governed by love and understanding. In other words, the learners are free from emotional tension.

Good teaching is about caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents. It's about devoting time, often invisible, to every student. It's also about the thankless hours of grading, designing or redesigning courses, and preparing materials to still further enhance instruction.

This is very important -- good teaching is about humor. It's about being self-deprecating and not taking yourself too seriously. It's often about making innocuous jokes, mostly at your own expense, so that the ice breaks and students learn in a more relaxed atmosphere where you, like them, are human with your own share of faults and shortcomings.

(i)     Teaching is good when the method used is supplemented by another method and instructional devices. It is an accepted fact that good method is a synthesis of many methods. This is based on the principles that the best learning takes place when a greater number of senses are stimulated and utilized in the process.

Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances. It's about getting only 10 percent of what you wanted to do in a class done and still feeling good. It's about deviating from the course syllabus or lecture schedule easily when there is more and better learning elsewhere. Good teaching is about the creative balance between being an authoritarian dictator on the one hand and a pushover on the other.

·         Gather materials, equipment and supplies beforehand.

·         Review related concepts, vocabulary and ideas.

·         Show enthusiasm and interest.

·         Prove an overview or outline of the lesson or unit. Move from whole to part to whole.

·         Objective: State and have students state the objective.

·         Purpose: Why is this important to learn?

·         Transfer: How does this relate to what you already know? Help students organize and connect new knowledge to old.

·         Clearly present information. Do not include non-essential information or distractors.

·         Move from simple to complex.

·         Move from known to unknown.

·         Model or demonstrate examples as well as non-examples.

·         Actively involve students. Use variety.

·         Adjust the level of questions to student ability.

·         Check for understanding frequently.

·         Feedback: Use criticism sparingly. Provide prompt feedback with reasons.

·         Guided practice: Closely monitor practice in the early stages of learning. Aim for at least 80% success.

·         Closure: At the end of a lesson, summarize or have the child summarize what was learned.

·         Review and reteach as often as necessary.

(j)   Teaching is good when evaluation is made an integral part of the teaching process. Evaluation is part and parcel of teaching. Evaluation measures the effectiveness of teaching and learning and completes the function which is essential in teaching. Teaching is meaningful only when the results of teaching are achieved.

Assessment and measurement serve valuable purposes for both instructors and students because they provide information on learner progress, they measure achievement of learning goals, and they provide learners with benchmarks for monitoring their progress and adjusting their learning strategies.

Assessment instruments and activities should be congruent with the learning goals and should be consistent with the skills required of the learner throughout the learning process.

Assessment and measurement strategies should be employed as integral parts of the learning experience--enabling learners to assess their progress, to identify areas for review, and to reestablish immediate learning or lesson goals.

Assessment and measurement strategies should accommodate the special needs, characteristics, and situations of the learner.

·         The teacher is accountable to someone for diligently pursuing goals and plans.

·         Self-discipline, diligence and timeliness are emphasized and rewarded.

·         Students are held responsible for completing work on time and doing a quality job.

·         A method exists to keep track of goals and achievements. Examples: plan book, student contracts or checklists, conferences.

·         Informal evaluation takes place constantly.

·         Formal evaluation (testing) is used as needed so that students can demonstrate their mastery.

·         Grades are essentially comparative and punitive. Better to keep a running list of accomplishments.

·         Evaluation is used as a basis for selecting future objectives.

(k) Teaching is good when drill or review is made an integral part of teaching and learning. The teacher must bear in mind that drill and review have different meanings and functions. The purpose of review is to bring out relationships of facts learned to give new view or new meaning.

·         Practice is directly related to the lesson objective.

·         Students are not distracted during practice time.

·         Directions for practice are clear.

·         Adequate practice is provided to ensure mastery.

·         Generous feedback is given early on.

·         Guided practice is closely monitored. It is "practice without penalty" and receives no grades or marks.

·         Students should have about an 80% success rate before independent practice is assigned.

·         Practice is distributed over time. Practice is less frequent after initial instruction but continues until mastery is achieved.

·         "Mental practice" is encouraged.

The Effective Teacher

THE EFFECTIVE TEACHER

There are several dimensions taken together in varying levels of degree that embody the effective teacher. Since teachers range from preschool through post secondary levels, and are unique people, no two teachers will have the same combination nor will all of them be present in every excellent teacher.

Perhaps the most important quality of an effective teacher is that she be a learner . Paulo Freire refers to this role as "teacher-student" because the teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and reconsiders her earlier considerations as the students express their own. The effective teacher, then, is one who extends a cordial invitation to her "student-teachers" to enter into a dialogic relationship with her and the subject matter.

The effective teacher must be a leader who can inspire and influence students through expert and referent power but never coercive power. This teacher knows his subject well and is kind and respectful toward his students. He also has high standards and expectations coexisting with encouragement, support, and flexibility. This teacher empowers students and gets them to do things of which they did not think they were capable. This teacher has students who surpass him.

The effective teacher is a provocateur who probes, prods, asks incessant why questions, poses problems, throws curves, plays "devil's advocate", and stimulates frustration and conflict all in an attempt to "bust bubbles and plant seeds" so that tidy and stereotypical explanations are unmasked and discarded.

The effective teacher exemplifies teacher as stranger . By keeping students at a healthy emotional distance, this teacher can, through continuous reflection, employ greater objectivity in her ability to balance the needs of individuals with the needs of the class as a whole. This allows the teacher to not only determine what those needs are but also how they can be accommodated to by innovative approaches.

The effective teacher models enthusiasm not only for his subject but also for teaching and learning in general. By showing exuberance, a positive attitude, excitement, and passion, the effective teacher makes it clear to his students that he would prefer to be nowhere else. Effective teachers value their craft and project this value to all in their presence.

The effective teacher is an innovator who changes strategies, techniques, texts, and materials when better ones are found and/or when existing ones no longer provide a substantive learning experience for her students. This teacher also employs a combination of lecture-discussion, simulation, service learning, cooperative learning, visual media, role-playing, guest speakers, and debates, and whatever is age and grade appropriate in order to accommodate diverse learning styles and to present the subject from different angles to facilitate insights and connections. This teacher values and uses students' ideas about how to enhance their own learning.

The effective teacher is a comedian/entertainer who uses humor in the service of learning rather than as a distraction from it.

The effective teacher is a coach or guide who helps students to improve on their skills and insights. By neither letting them flounder nor prematurely offering assistance, the effective teacher enables students to own their own successes and to learn from their mistakes. By returning the students' work promptly with constructive comments, and by being available for assistance, the effective teacher helps students to develop responsibility for their own learning, or to become what is known as self-reliant.

The effective teacher is a genuine human being or humanist who is able to laugh at herself and the absurdity in the world without being cynical and hopeless. She is a person who can self-disclose so that her students will see both her virtues and imperfections. By being a down-to-earth person, the effective teacher helps her students develop the will, courage and hope to fulfill their own potential as human beings.

The effective teacher is a sentinel who provides an environment of intellectual safety in which opposing ideas can be aired without fear of censure or retribution. This teacher can express his opinions and beliefs while taking care to distinguish fact from opinion. His students feel free to express their views with equal ease even if those views are at odds with those of the teacher.

The effective teacher is an optimist or idealist who firmly believes that without an ideal or mission, there will be no approximation of it. This teacher sees herself in each of her students and feels that her legacy is what she contributes to their development. This teacher achieves a sense of immortality by the positive influence she has on the lives of her students.

The effective teacher is one with others . He is a collaborator who places a high value on collegiality. He shares ideas and materials with others, solicits input and involvement by parents, and seeks help from his fellow teachers when he encounters a problem. The classroom walls in this teacher's room are thin.

This teacher is effective because she aspires to all these qualities and more. She values truth more than certainty and the rightness of a cause more than personal popularity. As this teacher attempts to change the world, she transforms herself and others in the process. Thus, the effective teacher is a revolutionary because she knows that, with the exception of parenthood, her role is the most vital one on earth in the preservation of the sanctity of life and its natural outcome - the elevation of humanity .

Benchmarking

“Benchmarking”  a Powerful Tool For Positive Change

Here we focus our attention on studies that assess stakeholder perceptions of quality. The principles of stakeholder benchmarking studies are well suited to assist colleges and universities in the development of a comprehensive, long-term assessment strategy. Stakeholder benchmarking is effective because it addresses two aspects essential to the continuous quality improvement process: (a) identifying the factors most important for improving overall performance and (b) initiating and sustaining the process of change essential for continuous quality improvement. Study results provide powerful leverage for positive change and continuous improvement.

Benchmarking Assesses What is Most Important

Successful benchmarking assessment studies evaluate the degree to which an organization is successfully fulfilling its mission from the perspective of key stakeholders. It is essential that assessment studies focus on mission critical factors. A successful and high-quality benchmarking study will identify and assess the factors critical to the successful fulfillment of the mission. Experts who assure that survey instruments capture the factors essential to the mission of the discipline determine the content of the studies.

Benchmarking Challenges Long-Held Beliefs

Benchmarking studies provide a comprehensive internal and comparative evaluation of performance serving to identify strengths and weaknesses. Educators (and others as well) have a tendency to overestimate their strengths and underestimate their weaknesses (evidenced by the 50 or so schools who contend to be in the "top 20" of any ranking). Little progress can be made when performance evaluation is left to a debate based solely on experience and anecdotal evidence.

Benchmarking studies provide credible results to guide and motivate those in a position to have the greatest impact on quality improvement. When professionals review benchmarking results, inevitably two types of conclusions are reached. First, a percentage of the results reinforce what professionals already believe, based on their previous education, training, and experience in the field. The difference is that now there is credible, comprehensive, comparable evidence to support what was previously opinion or supposition.

Second, professionals are inevitably presented with results that challenge their long-held beliefs. These results are typically questioned because the evidence is contrary to long-held assumptions. Once the credibility of the results has been established, professionals face the challenge of integrating the new information into their overall view of performance. These results typically have the greatest impact on the improvement process. Credible results provide evidence for professionals to rethink their assumptions about strengths and weaknesses. It requires them to incorporate new insights into a revised perspective of problems and opportunities. Benchmarking results challenge professionals to address the issues most critical.

Benchmarking Informs Decision-Making

Few organizations have unlimited resources to invest in all aspects of their operation. Each year professionals are faced with making resource allocation decisions that will result in the accomplishment of their mission. One of the major barriers is the inability of managers to shift resources from historically established budget lines. Stakeholder benchmarking studies can provide information that details the level of performance as well as the importance of factors to stakeholders' perceptions of quality. Identifying low performance factors that have great impact on perceived quality allows managers to focus their attention and deploy their resources in the most efficient and effective manner. It prioritizes for the decision-maker where an investment of resources will have the greatest impact on improving performance.

It is essential to understand both areas of strength and weakness and the importance of survey factors to overall satisfaction of stakeholders. For example, the factor with the lowest performance score may not be the factor that is most important to constituents' overall satisfaction. By identifying the factors that are "predictors of" (most highly correlated with) overall satisfaction in order of importance, educators are able to identify exactly where their resources will have the most positive impact on performance. Solid indicators on performance value and identifying factor importance provides managers with the evidence they need to shift, or lobby for, additional resources.

Benchmarking Motivates Staff

Even the most well-intentioned staff members become frustrated and discouraged when they receive little feedback regarding the impact of their efforts. Benchmarking motivates staff in four ways:

1.   It reinforces performance. Evidence of good performance is an opportunity to congratulate and reward staff for a job well done, serving to motivate staff to maintain and improve performance.

2.   It identifies mission critical factors essential for quality improvement and provides evidence of where their efforts will have the greatest positive impact on improving performance. Identifying areas where performance is below that of peers/competitors challenges staff to improve by tapping into their natural competitive nature.

3.   It provides meaningful performance comparisons. Comparative results with selected peers schools remove all doubt that it can't be done better. With evidence that others perform at a higher level, staff typically rise to the challenge and commit themselves to improvement.

4.   It provides continuous assessment. With a continuous benchmarking process, staff members come to know what needs to be improved and recognize when and how their performance will be assessed in the future which has proven to be a powerful motivator.

Each of the outcomes of benchmarking described above empowers college and university professionals to effectively make a change on their campuses. Sound evidence from high quality studies can be used to address the need to break from ineffective practices and to begin a process of continuous improvement. EBI is the Quality Benchmarking Catalyst in Higher Education.

It is emphasized by Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) that benchmarking is a powerful management tool because it overcomes "paradigm blindness." Paradigm Blindness can be summed up as the mode of thinking, "The way we do it is the best because this is the way.

Benchmarking for universities is the same basic idea.   It is the continuous process of identifying, adapting and implementing the practices and processes that can result in improved performance. It is a learning process primarily, that involves measuring the gaps, first between your municipality and the best performing municipality, and second, between current performance and previous performance. Quite simply, benchmarking involves the process of:

• examining how we do certain things,

• examining how other people do those things;

• review each process,

• take mental notes on how they do it,

• compare it to the way we do it or others do it,

• determine which way we think would be the best way

(best practice) of doing it for ourselves,

• implementing the best practice for ourselves, and

• once implemented, begin the whole review process

again.