A reader sent in this recommended website, which explains the Delphi Technique, how it works, and how it silences dissent while pretending to elicit opinions.
Diana Senechal reminds me that in Left Back, I described how social psychologists figured out how to manufacture consensus and how to exclude dissenting voices back in the 1950s. That is when they mastered the techniques of group dynamics, put a facilitator with a predetermined agenda in charge, and directed the discussion to whatever their goal was. Read pp. 336-338 to learn how “backsliders and dissidents” were silenced and corralled into supporting the group consensus.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I especially found this page useful… The Delphi Technique – How to Disrupt It. http://www.learn-usa.com/transformation_process/acf002.htm
“Remember…
always be charming,
stay focused, and
be persistent.”
Toning down my righteous anger will be a challenge, but it’s worth it during this ongoing fight for what I know is right in education.
I’ve seen the Delphi Technique disrupted…..
the staying focused and persistent part is easy for parents. It’s the charming part that’s difficult. I don’t place much value on it. When school districts come in with a controversial agenda that affects our kids, our teachers, our communities – charming is the last thing parents are worried about!
“We should be willing to tell the truth with the same audacity that they are willing to tell their lies.”. – Van Jones
Love that quote…I will have to make it into a banner above the Smartboard!
Well, it looks like we need our own psychological warfare.
How to fake compliance while pretending to care.
It wouldn’t be that difficult….just nod along during staff meetings and PD, smile, pretend to take notes, volunteer to man the easel and write what you want. When they visit your class slip into CCSS mode (have several canned mini-lessons ready to go). Once they leave, go back to real teaching. As long as you use the correct jargon and edubabble, they will never know. I am not convinced admin. even gets it themselves and since we are all making it up as we go along, they won’t have a clue.
We could compile an underground book with tips on how to fake the common core and give the illusion that you that you are complying with state and fed. mandates.
I did that and as long as your children cooperate it can work. When it does not work is when the administrator will mark everything you do as wrong whether it is or not. It works exceptionally well when the administrator is not certified in the same field as you are and you can speak your own jargon to him or her and go over his head. This works real well in special ed.
Yes, teachers are great at “faking it.” And although I hate to admit it, they are also great at passive aggressive techniques. Remember the book Teaching As a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman?
In the end, I believe teachers will win this war by virtue of the fact they are the people in the classroom. Whatever learning that takes place in the schools will only happen if teachers make it happen. As we saw from the Central Falls fiasco, nothing is gained for students by bashing teachers.
In the meantime, teachers MUST go on the offensive. For example, if teachers are to be evaluated on the basis of test scores, they should insist that each child be tested individually in the fall with a test that is geared to that child’s level, and then again in the spring. They should insist that the test be given by an independent professional (sound expensive? Oh well). I have no doubt that many lawsuits will be filed based on invalid data.
Along with formal testing, each teacher, in cooperation with her administrator, should keep careful records, including video and audio tapes of student progress. This way when she is deemed “ineffective” based on a ten-dollar test, she’ll have plenty of evidence to take to court. And she shouldn’t forget to have parent and teacher witnesses.
Don’t bet against the teachers!
Too real! I actually have caught myself doing this. But then there are the times we are being coerced into implementing policies and procedures which are developmentally inappropriate and even damaging to children, then the mother bear in me rears up, growls and protects the students.
Taking advantage of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which apparently affects the rheeformers.
Another favorite tactic of the Oklahoma SDE is to hold meetings and assign lackeys and tape recorders to listen.
In watching Bobby Jindal on Sunday, I think it was on This Week, I am thinking that is what he is doing, the Delphi Technique. He never answers a question, never stops talking, talks very fast, and never answers a question. If he answers a question at all, he first brings the issue back around to his agenda and then makes the answer brief and insignificant. This is probably how he got BESE and the state legislature to go along with him on the school bills. He is simply a master at controlling the conversation and that is how he is manuevering Louisiana. And he does have spotters, a whole staff that works the Republican legislators and subdues the Democrats.
I do believe that both parties are quite expert at this technique and neither party gives a care about teachers, students and public education.
The link provided by the reader offers a link to another website authored by Lynn M. Stuter. While I can appreciate her advice for how to disrupt the “Delphi” technique, there is some really crazy, right-wing, conspiracy theory stuff on that site. I’d take it all with a grain of salt, to say the least.
These methods are also used under the title of “community engagement” which is designed to circumvent democracy. It’s a process in which powerful elites with preconceived goals use cleverly manipulated “community dialogues” to create the illusion of community consensus for the elite’s goals–and then represent these predictable outcomes as the will of the people.
Shortly after I started teaching (1996) the U.S. Dept. of Education published “Putting the Pieces Together – comprehensive school-linked strategies for children and families” http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED396856.pdf and it was working. My district seemed to undergo a Renaissance. Parent and student involvement (much to the chagrin of admin.) brought an increased focus to the school system and pushed passage of a bond issue for a new science wing and wellness center at the high school as well as school-wide technology. The Dept. of Ed. document introduced the idea that “Instead of focusing only on short-term results — test scores, attendance rates, and disciplinary incidents — school staff can link with partner agencies to help families accomplish lifelong learning objectives, including adult literacy and job training.”
Of course, “Building Collaborative Partnerships (Ch. 1) ” and consensus now have a negative connotation. Can you say disingenuous?
The input of a diminishing number of parents and students is still heard but it seems that most meeting facilitators are hard of listening.
Starting in 2014 in RI, many special ed. students will not get a high school diploma because they perform badly on a test.
Watching the “Occupy the D.O.E.” clip from NYC last night, I was moved by the crowd’s action, but I was also struck by Walcott’s smug indignation. You can tell he’s thinking, “The nerve of these people! Don’t they know who’s in charge here? We’re the ones wearing suits, dammit!”
And although the crowd’s message was phrased tactfully, I found myself wishing they had coordinated something for Coleman that played off of his infamous quip at the NY State Dept of Ed presentation in 2011: “Put the mic down, Mr. Coleman. We don’t give a shit about what you feel or what you think.”
Jason, that would have been masterful.
We had meetings to craft school improvement plans in the Clark County Nevada district last year. This technique was applied in mass. Our tiny rural K-12 school with 300 total students didn’t play along. Our teachers are people who came in to teaching from other careers. Our former marketing expert noticed right away what was going on. Our new principal didn’t realize we wouldn’t generate a boiler plate solution like all the other schools. Funny thing, all schools but ours identified the same “concerns” and similar solutions to increase rigor. Our plan focused on rebuilding a relationship with our community to improve attendance. We also focused on forming alliances with local charitable groups to get dental and health care for our poorer students. Our reformy superintendent did not like the plan, but all 18 or our seniors completed all requirements for graduation. We have a long way to go and the incoming assessments to teachers using Student Growth Percentiles I fear will undo what we have done.
Kevin
Diane, you just described every post-Katrina “community” recovery planning meeting that occurred in New Orleans, including and especially the school facilities master planning process charade. We protested even as we tried to get what we really needed. AmericaSpeaks is the WORST. If you see them coming to your town, just know that they have been hired to apply the techniques described above.
Time to re-read & apply some of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals!”
NCTQ used this technique in Seattle twice to gain consensus regarding “teacher effectiveness” at the beginning of their campaign in our state to put the responsibility of success or failure of our schools solely on the shoulders of our teachers. The first time was at the presentation of their “study” of Seattle school teachers who they termed “human capitol”. They broke the audience down into groups with their staff being the “Facilitators”. I could tell that the entire event had been engineered to create consensus but I don’t know that everyone was aware of that.
The second time NCTQ did this was at a community meeting in a minority neighborhood where the plan is to plant charter schools if and when they are approved in our state.
Dora
The Philadelphia SD uses this methods in all of its “community” meetings. At one of those meetings last May, I got up after they announced the agenda and said that we did not want to placed into small groups. I had somebody ready to back me up, and we prevailed. We were then able to ask questions of the SD officials and not be divided.
Anybody can do this–get up and have people ready to back you up–vocally.