Bill Gates: Teachers need real feedback

Summary

In a thought-provoking talk, Bill Gates emphasizes the critical need for effective feedback systems for teachers, highlighting that many receive only minimal evaluations. He compares the U.S. education system's performance with top-performing countries, such as Shanghai, which excels by offering robust support and professional development for teachers. Gates presents the Measures of Effective Teaching project, showcasing how video and student feedback can enhance teaching practices. He advocates for significant investment in a comprehensive feedback system that not only empowers teachers but also ensures equitable educational opportunities for all students, ultimately contributing to a more just society.

Takeaways

• 😀 Feedback is essential for improvement in any field, including education.
• 😀 Teachers often receive inadequate feedback, mainly limited to 'satisfactory' ratings.
• 📉 The U.S. ranks poorly in academic performance compared to other countries, particularly in reading, science, and math.
• 🌍 Countries with successful educational systems prioritize comprehensive teacher feedback and development.
• 👩‍🏫 Shanghai, China, exemplifies effective teacher improvement strategies through peer observations and collaborative learning.
• 📊 The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project shows a positive correlation between effective teaching practices and student outcomes.
• 🎥 Video observation is a powerful tool for teachers, allowing them to reflect on and improve their instructional strategies.
• 🛠️ A proposed feedback system for teachers could cost $5 billion but is a necessary investment in education.
• 📚 Improving teacher support will help ensure all students receive a quality education and equal opportunities.
• 🤝 The vision is to create a more equitable and successful educational system for future generations.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of Bill Gates' talk?

The main purpose of Bill Gates' talk is to emphasize the importance of providing teachers with effective feedback to improve their teaching practices and enhance student outcomes.

How does Gates compare feedback in teaching to feedback in sports?

Gates compares feedback in teaching to that in sports by highlighting that athletes receive detailed feedback from coaches to improve performance, whereas teachers often receive minimal feedback, limiting their professional growth.

What statistic does Gates provide about teacher feedback in the U.S.?

Gates mentions that over 98% of teachers in the U.S. receive only one word of feedback: 'satisfactory,' which he argues is insufficient for their improvement.

Which country does Gates highlight as a model for effective teacher development?

Gates highlights Shanghai, China, as a model for effective teacher development, noting its structured systems that promote continuous improvement for teachers.

What methods are used in the MET project to assess teacher effectiveness?

The MET project uses classroom video observations and student surveys to assess teacher effectiveness, focusing on practices like challenging questions and various explanation methods.

What benefits do teachers derive from the video observation component in MET?

Teachers find the video observation component beneficial as it provides concrete examples of their teaching, allowing them to reflect on and identify specific areas for improvement.

What investment does Gates suggest is needed for improving teacher feedback systems?

Gates suggests that building a comprehensive teacher feedback and improvement system could require an investment of up to five billion dollars.

How does Gates justify the cost of improving teacher feedback systems?

Gates justifies the cost by comparing it to less than two percent of what is currently spent on teacher salaries, emphasizing that the potential impact on education would be substantial.

What ultimate goal does Gates hope to achieve through these improvements?

Gates hopes to ensure that all students receive a great education, leading to fulfilling careers and the opportunity to live out their dreams, thereby fostering a more fair and just society.

What is the significance of peer observation and collaboration among teachers, according to Gates?

Gates emphasizes that peer observation and collaboration are crucial as they enable teachers to learn from one another, share effective practices, and support each other's professional development.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Need for Effective Teacher Feedback

In this part, the speaker highlights the essential role of feedback in teacher development, stressing that most teachers receive minimal and ineffective feedback, often only labeled as 'satisfactory.' This lack of constructive feedback significantly hampers their professional growth and negatively impacts student learning. The speaker draws comparisons with high-performing countries like Shanghai, which implement structured feedback systems that enable teachers to observe master educators and collaborate in study groups. Additionally, the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project is discussed, showcasing how video observations and student surveys can provide invaluable insights for teacher improvement. The speaker argues for a comprehensive teacher feedback and improvement system in the U.S., noting that, despite potential challenges and costs, such an investment could lead to significant benefits for both teachers and students.

Keywords

💡Feedback

Feedback refers to the information provided to individuals about their performance, allowing them to improve and grow. In the context of the video, the speaker highlights the lack of systematic feedback that teachers receive, which hinders their professional development. The mention of teachers receiving only 'Satisfactory' feedback illustrates how inadequate feedback can prevent educators from knowing where they excel or need improvement.

💡Teachers

Teachers are individuals responsible for educating students and facilitating their learning experiences. The video emphasizes the critical role teachers play in shaping the future of students and, consequently, society. By pointing out that teachers are not receiving sufficient support or feedback, the speaker argues for a system that values and enhances teachers’ abilities, which is vital for student success.

💡Evaluation System

An evaluation system is a structured method for assessing individuals' performance, often including observations, metrics, and feedback. The video discusses the current evaluation systems for teachers in the U.S., indicating that they often fall short of providing useful feedback. By contrasting the U.S. system with those in higher-performing countries, the speaker advocates for a more effective evaluation framework that contributes to teachers' improvement.

💡Professional Development

Professional development refers to the continuous training and education that helps individuals in their careers to enhance their skills and knowledge. The video underscores the necessity for teachers to have access to professional development opportunities that are informed by feedback. This emphasis on improvement and ongoing learning is crucial for ensuring that teachers can adapt and thrive in their roles.

💡Collaboration

Collaboration involves working together towards shared goals, often enhancing problem-solving and creativity. In the video, the importance of collaborative efforts among teachers is illustrated through practices such as weekly study groups and peer observations. These collaborative practices enable teachers to share insights and learn from one another, ultimately contributing to improved teaching strategies.

💡Student Outcomes

Student outcomes are the measurable results of students' learning and educational experiences. The video emphasizes that effective teaching directly correlates with better student outcomes. By using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching project, the speaker demonstrates how certain teaching practices lead to significant gains in student performance, reinforcing the need for a robust feedback system.

💡Effective Teaching

Effective teaching refers to instructional practices that successfully facilitate student learning and engagement. The video presents the findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching project, where specific teaching behaviors, like asking challenging questions, were linked to higher student achievement. This highlights the importance of defining and promoting effective teaching practices within the educational system.

💡Observation

Observation involves systematically watching and assessing someone's performance in a specific context. In the video, the role of classroom observations is emphasized as a means for teachers to receive constructive feedback. The speaker discusses how observing master teachers can provide valuable insights and models for improving one’s own teaching methods.

💡Technology in Education

Technology in education refers to the use of digital tools and resources to enhance learning and teaching processes. The video mentions the use of video recordings as a tool for teachers to reflect on their practice. This innovative approach allows teachers to analyze their own teaching and identify areas for improvement, demonstrating how technology can support professional growth.

💡Investment in Education

Investment in education refers to the allocation of resources, including funding and support, to improve educational systems and outcomes. The video discusses the estimated cost of building a comprehensive teacher feedback and improvement system, presenting it as a worthwhile investment in the future of education. The speaker argues that even though the cost may seem high, it represents a small fraction of total teacher salary expenditures, emphasizing its potential long-term benefits.

Highlights

Everyone, including teachers, needs effective feedback to improve their skills.

Over 98% of teachers previously received only 'Satisfactory' as feedback, which is insufficient for growth.

The current evaluation system for teachers is unfair and doesn't provide the necessary support.

Countries with strong academic performance have formal systems to help teachers improve.

Shanghai, China, ranks first globally in reading, math, and science due to effective teacher improvement strategies.

Shanghai's system includes opportunities for younger teachers to observe master teachers in action.

Collaboration among teachers through study groups helps share best practices.

Teachers are required to observe and give feedback to their peers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

There's a significant variation in teacher effectiveness; some teachers achieve extraordinary results with their students.

The Measures of Effective Teaching project involves 3,000 teachers and focuses on classroom observations.

Observational tools assess whether teachers engage students with challenging questions and diverse explanations.

Student surveys provide critical insights into teacher effectiveness and areas for improvement.

Video recording in classrooms serves as a powerful tool for teacher reflection and growth.

Teachers can review recorded lessons to identify strengths and areas needing improvement.

Bill Gates envisions a future where every classroom in America utilizes effective feedback systems.

Implementing comprehensive feedback systems for teachers could cost up to five billion dollars, a small fraction of teacher salary expenditures.

Improving teacher support not only enhances education quality but also promotes fairness and opportunity for all students.

Transcripts

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Everyone needs a coach.

It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player,

a tennis player, a gymnast

or a bridge player.

(Laughter)

My bridge coach, Sharon Osberg,

says there are more pictures of the back of her head

than anyone else's in the world. (Laughter)

Sorry, Sharon. Here you go.

We all need people who will give us feedback.

That's how we improve.

Unfortunately, there's one group of people

who get almost no systematic feedback

to help them do their jobs better,

and these people

have one of the most important jobs in the world.

I'm talking about teachers.

When Melinda and I learned

how little useful feedback most teachers get,

we were blown away.

Until recently, over 98 percent of teachers

just got one word of feedback:

Satisfactory.

If all my bridge coach ever told me

was that I was "satisfactory,"

I would have no hope of ever getting better.

How would I know who was the best?

How would I know what I was doing differently?

Today, districts are revamping

the way they evaluate teachers,

but we still give them almost no feedback

that actually helps them improve their practice.

Our teachers deserve better.

The system we have today isn't fair to them.

It's not fair to students,

and it's putting America's global leadership at risk.

So today I want to talk about how we can help all teachers

get the tools for improvement they want and deserve.

Let's start by asking who's doing well.

Well, unfortunately there's no international ranking tables

for teacher feedback systems.

So I looked at the countries

whose students perform well academically,

and looked at what they're doing

to help their teachers improve.

Consider the rankings for reading proficiency.

The U.S. isn't number one.

We're not even in the top 10.

We're tied for 15th with Iceland and Poland.

Now, out of all the places

that do better than the U.S. in reading,

how many of them have a formal system

for helping teachers improve?

Eleven out of 14.

The U.S. is tied for 15th in reading,

but we're 23rd in science and 31st in math.

So there's really only one area where we're near the top,

and that's in failing to give our teachers

the help they need to develop their skills.

Let's look at the best academic performer:

the province of Shanghai, China.

Now, they rank number one across the board,

in reading, math and science,

and one of the keys to Shanghai's incredible success

is the way they help teachers keep improving.

They made sure that younger teachers

get a chance to watch master teachers at work.

They have weekly study groups,

where teachers get together and talk about what's working.

They even require each teacher to observe

and give feedback to their colleagues.

You might ask, why is a system like this so important?

It's because there's so much variation

in the teaching profession.

Some teachers are far more effective than others.

In fact, there are teachers throughout the country

who are helping their students make extraordinary gains.

If today's average teacher

could become as good as those teachers,

our students would be blowing away the rest of the world.

So we need a system that helps all our teachers

be as good as the best.

What would that system look like?

Well, to find out, our foundation

has been working with 3,000 teachers

in districts across the country

on a project called Measures of Effective Teaching.

We had observers watch videos

of teachers in the classroom

and rate how they did on a range of practices.

For example, did they ask their students

challenging questions?

Did they find multiple ways to explain an idea?

We also had students fill out surveys with questions like,

"Does your teacher know

when the class understands a lesson?"

"Do you learn to correct your mistakes?"

And what we found is very exciting.

First, the teachers who did well on these observations

had far better student outcomes.

So it tells us we're asking the right questions.

And second, teachers in the program told us

that these videos and these surveys from the students

were very helpful diagnostic tools,

because they pointed to specific places

where they can improve.

I want to show you what this video component of MET

looks like in action.

(Music)

(Video) Sarah Brown Wessling: Good morning everybody.

Let's talk about what's going on today.

To get started, we're doing a peer review day, okay?

A peer review day, and our goal by the end of class

is for you to be able to determine

whether or not you have moves to prove in your essays.

My name is Sarah Brown Wessling.

I am a high school English teacher

at Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa.

Turn to somebody next to you.

Tell them what you think I mean when I talk about moves to prove. I've talk about --

I think that there is a difference for teachers

between the abstract of how we see our practice

and then the concrete reality of it.

Okay, so I would like you to please bring up your papers.

I think what video offers for us

is a certain degree of reality.

You can't really dispute what you see on the video,

and there is a lot to be learned from that,

and there are a lot of ways that we can grow

as a profession when we actually get to see this.

I just have a flip camera and a little tripod

and invested in this tiny little wide-angle lens.

At the beginning of class, I just perch it

in the back of the classroom. It's not a perfect shot.

It doesn't catch every little thing that's going on.

But I can hear the sound. I can see a lot.

And I'm able to learn a lot from it.

So it really has been a simple

but powerful tool in my own reflection.

All right, let's take a look at the long one first, okay?

Once I'm finished taping, then I put it in my computer,

and then I'll scan it and take a peek at it.

If I don't write things down, I don't remember them.

So having the notes is a part of my thinking process,

and I discover what I'm seeing as I'm writing.

I really have used it for my own personal growth

and my own personal reflection on teaching strategy

and methodology and classroom management,

and just all of those different facets of the classroom.

I'm glad that we've actually done the process before

so we can kind of compare what works, what doesn't.

I think that video exposes

so much of what's intrinsic to us as teachers

in ways that help us learn and help us understand,

and then help our broader communities understand

what this complex work is really all about.

I think it is a way to exemplify and illustrate

things that we cannot convey in a lesson plan,

things you cannot convey in a standard,

things that you cannot even sometimes convey

in a book of pedagogy.

Alrighty, everybody, have a great weekend.

I'll see you later.

[Every classroom could look like that]

(Applause)

Bill Gates: One day, we'd like every classroom in America

to look something like that.

But we still have more work to do.

Diagnosing areas where a teacher needs to improve

is only half the battle.

We also have to give them the tools they need

to act on the diagnosis.

If you learn that you need to improve

the way you teach fractions,

you should be able to watch a video

of the best person in the world teaching fractions.

So building this complete teacher feedback

and improvement system won't be easy.

For example, I know some teachers

aren't immediately comfortable with the idea

of a camera in the classroom.

That's understandable, but our experience with MET

suggests that if teachers manage the process,

if they collect video in their own classrooms,

and they pick the lessons they want to submit,

a lot of them will be eager to participate.

Building this system will also require

a considerable investment.

Our foundation estimates that it could cost

up to five billion dollars.

Now that's a big number, but to put it in perspective,

it's less than two percent

of what we spend every year on teacher salaries.

The impact for teachers would be phenomenal.

We would finally have a way to give them feedback,

as well as the means to act on it.

But this system would have

an even more important benefit for our country.

It would put us on a path to making sure

all our students get a great education,

find a career that's fulfilling and rewarding,

and have a chance to live out their dreams.

This wouldn't just make us a more successful country.

It would also make us a more fair and just one, too.

I'm excited about the opportunity

to give all our teachers the support they want and deserve.

I hope you are too.

Thank you.

(Applause)