Every week I learn something more about the world of education. It clearly has a multitude of intricate moving parts and like a clock, unless all those moving parts work together as planned, much of the good works among the parts won’t represent themselves correctly on the face of it all.

The face of education is like a complex watch with multiple read outs — referrals, suspensions, expulsions, bullying, drop outs, graduation rates, scores on state standards, college entrance exam scores, college entrance rates, career entry rates, etc.

At a recent meeting with representatives with Franciscan Health Services who have an initiative within some of our Federal Way schools aimed at curbing violence, they presented how surrogate measures can give indicators of program success. Managers always like to see direct linkages, like an accelerator pedal; if you press this the car will move faster, but in real life some things are more complex.

As an example, if we hired people to remove weeds and ready a field for planting and hired another to plant seeds and nurture the plants, if the crop yield is low who do you blame?

On the other hand, if the crop yield is exceptional, then who should get most of the credit? The takeaway I got from the conversation is that you need to assign things to do that you have a high degree of certainty will positively influence the outcome you are looking for.

The logic flow for curbing violence examined rates of referrals and rates of expulsions. The program that was put into play involved the schools and the community. A soccer field was established in conjunction with support from a local homeowners association, while a local youth club came in to operate a free soccer league.

This put youths out of harm’s way and away from mischief. It put youths under engaged adult supervision and provided mentoring opportunities. It established a stronger sense of self-worth among participants and a greater interest to advance themselves through school. The outcome then along with reduced mischief and violence is more engaged students, less disruption in classes, fewer referrals and fewer expulsions.

This holistic system-like view of an issue was developed by engaged community members – one of the many moving parts in our complex education machine. At its root you could say their aim was to set the table so that the school system is able to do what they are designed to do – educate our children. The teacher cannot force a child to learn, the child needs to make the choice to learn, to be attentive and not disruptive, to believe in themselves and not give up.

Our challenge is to visualize these complex logic flow diagrams to target our resources on programs that can make a positive effect in raising educational and life outcomes for our children. One step that Federal Way Public Schools has taken is to double the number of Family Liaisons at our schools over the next year. Applied correctly, their efforts can make a monumental difference in raising the engagement of parents, caregivers, and community members for the benefit of our students.

By the way, another takeaway was that the direct linkage approach often does not work. That is, if you take “at risk” youths and try to scare them with factoids about the pipeline to a future life of crime and jail, it is less effective than reinforcing the positive and telling them what they can be by applying their talents in school and life. “Scared Straight” and “Boot Camps” may make for great theatre, but the old mantra to “Believe In Yourself” and “Be Positive” seems to resonate much better.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss topics in the education community.

Hiroshi Eto, Federal Way Public Schools