Is Special Education a Finite or an Infinite Game?
“I started to see that many of the struggles that organizations face exist simply because their leaders were playing in an infinite game with a finite mindset.”
My poster banner at the DCDT Convention, Little Rock, Arkansas, Nov 2022
My poster sparked some exciting discussions at the DCDT Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas this week. I stood there in the midst of displays of graduate research and data about transition practices and programs improving post-school outcomes for students with disabilities. My eye-catching poster drew passersby, and they stayed to share their thoughts with me.
What is the difference?
I heard about Simon Sinek’s new book The Infinite Game from a podcast interview by Brené Brown (one of my heroes). In the interview, he explained the difference with examples from business and public organizations. He did not mention education in his interview or in his book, but I can’t help applying his key ideas to our work.
“Finite games have known players, fixed rules and a clear end point. The winners and losers are easily identified, like in a game of football…”
“In infinite games, like business or politics or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game.” The purpose is to keep on playing by continuously improving, always ready to pivot to be better than yesterday in your commitment to the “just cause” you’re aiming for.
Sinek explains that when a business claims to be #1, it’s arbitrary -- Is the game really over? And who agreed on the scoring system that made you #1?
How does this apply to special education?
I started pondering how this distinction applies to special education. Consider this:
The purpose of special education is “to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living” (IDEA 2004). That sounds like a “just cause” to me. It also sounds like an infinite game that we hope will never end.
But when I listen to special education teachers and leaders, most of what I hear sounds like finite game playing. I grabbed a scrap of paper and started making two lists of what I’ve observed:
What would you add to these lists?
Curious faces listened to my quick introduction and then they had lots to offer. Here are a few of the insights that were shared as we huddled there together:
Too much teacher time has to be spent collecting data (finite) rather than building relationships with students (infinite) that could truly change the trajectory of their lives.
We don’t think that data collecting will ever go away. We’ll always have that finite part of our jobs, but teachers’/ educators’ emotional rewards don’t come from that activity.
Most educators (and especially special educators) came to this profession to play the infinite game - to make a difference in the lives of children. All the focus on the finite game is driving them away.
The public views education as a finite game, especially looking at school report cards. That’s demoralizing for teachers and leaders.
Students are highly motivated and empowered by the aspects of learning that are infinite, where they can problem solve and create solutions and invent, rather than “playing by the rules.”
The same is true for teachers!!
Families don’t really care about all the data. They want teachers who know their kids and them -- teachers who truly welcome them as partners -- adapting approaches to fit the family situation without judgment.
If we want to transform post-school outcomes, we need to engage our students (especially those with special needs) in the infinite game of becoming expert lifelong learners who can advocate for accommodations and supports and shape their own environments for success.
Several of the participants at my poster session agreed to be interviewed so I can include them in my Infinite Game Video Gallery, a component of my Inclusive School Communities course. I can’t wait to set them up!!
As usual, I invite your comments. What are the biggest challenges to establishing in inclusive, rewarding culture where you work? What methods do you use that work? It will take all of us to create Inclusive School Communities where everyone contributes and belongs!
