Buffer definitions

The Elmore article (page 2, 2nd column) defines "buffer" as that activity of administrators to protect the technical core (which he defines as the classroom) from outside scrutiny or interference.

The Elmore article (page 2, 2nd column) defines "buffer" as that activity of administrators to protect the technical core (which he defines as the classroom) from outside scrutiny or interference.

A buffer can be described as the candy coating on some bitter medicine. Unfortunately, many of us have worked with less than mediocre teachers, who at the same time, might be great people who everyone likes alot. The protection provided for these folks is tenure, good old boys club and politics. We live in political times and the 'buffers' rise to the top level....who is going to be Educ. Sect. and look how the political beliefs lie with the individuals being considered. I find the word 'buffer' as a descriptor for all levels of protection of inadequacy, from parents who are afraid to speak out... to legislatures who resist looking through the lens of what is happening to our future citizens because of the lack of an adequate education system. Wouldn't it make sense to put education as a priority for continuance of a country with the individual freedoms we have?

The buffer is a systematic component of many school cultures that exists to maintain the status quo through preventing constructive feedback. It is an invisisble barrier that is protective of the actions taking place within. It works like a fort on the frontier to protect those within and avoid those on the outside. It allows schools and districts to convince themselves that everything is allright and there really are no problems to address, thus making it easier to continue to avoid change.

I might be going on a birdwalk here as far as the "buffer" definition is concerned, but I really liked the "loosley coupled" section of Elmore's article. We have discussed this exact concern in our school district. The idea that Central Office and Principals want to play a role in exactly what goes on in the classroom is shunned by a lot of teachers. I used to laugh when a collegue of mine would say "Leave me alone and let me teach." Now I can see that this only happens in education.

The "Buffer" to me seems to be our collective need to remain non-confrontational. I believe that most teachers know when a fellow colleague is not up to par in some area of instruction but his/her need for harmony out weighs the benefit of having that confrontation. I think that many administrators know that they have teachers in their building that are lacking in few, some, or many areas but because they don’t want to be perceived as a bad boss they choose to overlook many downfalls and avoid confrontation. People have a built in need to be accepted by others and due to that many battles that should be fought are not. To those teachers and administrators that do step up when it is time, bravo, as professionals we should be able to work with constructive criticism, build on it and grow as educators because of it.

From my perspective, the buffer mentioned in Chapter 1 is the "brutal truth" or honesty about one's teaching practices or leadership abilities in which people are uncomfortable admitting. It's the fear of criticism, accountability, and comparison by which we are measured. Quite literally, the buffer becomes the classroom or office door.

How many ways can you re say what's been said in a definition?

We all need buffers in our life, but we all need accountability to our work.

A buffer is like a bunch of rafts in a pool--the rafts are moving and bumping into each other, but nothing from one raft ever enters the other raft. All you see is you can from your own raft--this is the idea with teachers and administrators. Not very often is there oversight into each teacher's classroom consistently to really know what's going on, but everything looks good from where we're sitting in our own little raft.

As an educator of many years who has both taught and been a school and district administrator in both rural and urban Alaska, I see "buffers" as described in the article as absolutely the number one obstacle to educational reform. These buffers especially hurt our rural children when low expectations are set because of the difficulties they face. Everyone seems to think the problem is someone else's. Many educators dislike NCLB, but I believe that NCLB was trying to address these exact buffers such as poor instruction, excuses for students with disablitiies and especially minority students. All of the problems in education don't belong exclusively to educators, but that is the only thing we can control.

In most aspects of life there is some sort of a "Buffer", it is our protective barrier or wall that we, as educators, principals, etc. do not want to cross or look through. Teachers and administrators are famous for closing their doors and drawing the blinds so no one can come into their domain. To cross the barrier teachers and administrators must give up time, knowledge, and sometines control, for true learning to happen. The school climate is like the old adage, "the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing."

The emporer's new clothes....that tale sums up what happens in many schools and districts. Even though we know things are not working, or not contributing to student success, we don't speak up. Keep the peace...keep your job.

It means means to receive, absorb and mitigate such a force, either because it has dispersed or because the energy is transformed so that the initial force has minoritised. The better the damping force, the lower the power received on the endpoint.

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