Doug Lemov has written a book about a surefire way to improve education: Develop better teachers. Lemov is a former principal and teacher who is now a consultant to school districts. He looked at Stanford research that showed that in one year, the top 5% of teachers can raise students one-and-a-half grade levels, while the bottom 5% put their kids a half-grade behind. And then he asked: “What if we could make all teachers a little bit better?” (“Made to Stick: Watch the Game Film,” Dan Heath and Chip Heath, FastCompany, June 1, 2010)

You could start by firing the incompetent 5% across the U.S. but then you would need 185,000 new teachers to replace them. So Lemov asked another question: “What if we could make all teachers a little better?”

Sounds great, but what makes some teachers better? He decided he had better find out. He started with a great teacher in New Jersey, observing and videotaping him in action. He found another teacher and repeated the process, and then another, and another. Five years later he had recorded and analyzed hundreds of hours of videotape. He put his findings in a book: Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College.

His techniques are concrete, specific, and actionable. Here’s an example:

“When you want them to follow your directions, stand still. If you’re walking around passing out papers, it looks like the directions are no more important than all of the other things you’re doing. Show that your directions matter. Stand still. They’ll respond.”

The article describes two other techniques that are in the book: (1) star teachers circulate around the whole space of their classrooms while less experienced teachers rarely leave the space between the blackboard and the first row of desks; and, (2) great teachers start class before the opening bell rings with a “Do Now” assignment on the board. As Lemov notes, making the first five minutes of class productive time instead of transition time is like adding 15 extra class periods to the school year.

The Baldrige model values identifying, sharing, and implementing best practices. Lemov’s book is all about best-practice teaching.

To read more about best practices in education, click on these articles:

• Lessons from High-Performing K-12 Schools
• A New Bottom Line for Schools – and the Rest of Us
• Inspiration for a New Education System
• Reinventing Education with Baldrige
• Baldrige and K-12: Not for the Faint-Hearted

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