Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [532]
FIGURE 26-12 Raising reading test scores. (Source: Belinda Small, used with permission.)
Not surprisingly, when students suggested obstacles to a target of “Raising Reading Test Scores,” Small noted that many of them related to lack of confidence in standardized test taking, as noted in Fig. 27-12. What was unexpected to her was why. When students verbalized an obstacle as, “All the answers look the same,” Small became aware that many students were primarily having trouble interpreting the multiple-choice answers, and that they lacked a strategy and specific actions to differentiate between the choices. According to Small, using the Ambitious Target tool enabled the students to develop their own strategy and tactics. In her words, “The tool enabled the students to create a step-by-step pattern to answer what to look for and do when reading questions and answers. This method enabled the STUDENTS to:
think of the solutions
create the language
use THEIR logic
form the connections between the State Academic Standards
make the connections between the State Academic Standards and the FCAT28 test questions.”
“Best of all,” she concludes, “they used it during the test. I felt the process had a big impact using very little time. It took about 30 minutes on one day to raise obstacles to the target. The next day we used about 15 minutes to think of intermediate objectives and another 30 minutes to organize the sequence of the objectives.”29
The TOC thinking and communication tools provide a structure and the questions to empower students to analyze, derive relevance from, and apply what they are learning to their lives now and in the future. When children have ownership not just of the answers but also of the questions that enable them to make sense of the world around them, they are much more able and motivated to take responsibility for what they learn and how they behave. This reality substantially fulfills stakeholders’ expectations of good education in preparing children to become productive in the workplace and responsible citizens in a way that actually enhances the resources of those providing education—especially the resource of their time.
Yes, but . . .? How do we ensure that these results do not stagnate or deteriorate but endure and even progress? And what will be the impact of a progression of good results on our existing resources? Full circle . . . or a spiral?
A Process of Ongoing Improvement
There is nothing permanent but change—Herodotus
When students—or anyone—exhibit clear thinking, motivation, and improved performance, usually it is noticed, encouraged, and rewarded. While such success brings initial satisfaction and a justifiably enhanced self confidence, it can also create negative branches and raise new obstacles as conveyed in the words of Walt Whitman, “From every fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.” These obstacles can include:
Rising expectations
More work
Ever changing realities
All of which can put pressure once more on our resources. Therefore, we need a process of ongoing improvement. In TOC, the questions of change, just like the tools themselves, are not a one-time fix but, instead, systematically repeated as needed:
The repeating cyclical applications of these questions and the TOC tools are intended to create spirals of ever-flourishing improvements whether in a person, a classroom, or an organization—all of which combine in TOCfE. Therefore, not surprisingly, TOCfE has experienced the same core conflict as in Fig. 26-1 and the need