Teacher accountability is something that has become undesirable for many educators, today. So far, I have tried to give you somewhat of a timeline for funding and standardized testing, which are all interconnected in layers. This week I am going to add another layer to the education salad and talk about what exactly it means to be an accountable educator, because it is not all about standardized test scores and your students’ performance.
There is accountability in every job. Most jobs actually have reports that bosses need to fill out to make sure all of their employees are performing well and not hurting the company. These reports are also used to fire people that are not performing to the company’s standards. In education, once teachers receive their tenure, which is reaching a certain number of years in a school district, they are very protected. Once a teacher is tenured, it is very difficult to fire them, even if their students are consistently not performing well. Often times, if there is a teacher that really should not be teaching, the school district must go through court to get them fired because of the union protection. Teacher accountability is making it easier to fire bad teachers because there are policies written into the union contracts in many states that allow the school district to terminate these employees.
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There has always been some form of “accountability” for educators, and they were reports based on the principal or superintendent observing the teacher in class. This sounds like a great idea, but often times these reports were treated as a joke and “satisfactory” marks were given out like candy. According to a 2009 report from TNTP, 98% of teachers were deemed satisfactory. The interesting thing is, the students are often the ones who know that some teachers are bad. I’m sure you could walk into any school district in the United States and ask the students what teachers are good and which ones are bad. The students will tell you about the bad teachers and why they are bad. How can students see these things but the other professionals cannot? Why are the principals and superintendents blind to the bad teachers? Like I said earlier, they aren’t blind, they just cannot get rid of these teachers because of their protection.
On one hand, these teachers have great jobs once they have tenure! They really don’t have to worry about losing their jobs or losing money. They can practically do whatever they want and many of them do. One of the most difficult things about being a teacher is that you can only care for your students when they are in class. Because there are other factors that contribute to students’ lives, there are other factors that contribute to the performance of the students as well. If your job is protected, then you do not have to worry about having some students that do not perform well or behave badly. On the other hand, in a new, emerging world of teacher accountability, teachers do have to worry about these other factors that are a natural part of students’ lives. Sickness, family deaths, poverty, these are all things that might cloud a child’s mind and make it difficult to perform well in school.
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Accountability, though, is not just about test-performance, which is what many people believe, including educators. Instead, the accountability movement is making sure that teachers are performing as best they can. Today, teaching is regarded as being unprofessional and female dominated. I know for a fact that some people choose education as a major because they believe it will be “easy”. Accountability is working to change this misconception about education and its professionals. Making sure that teachers are diligently working to better their students’ lives and teaching them new knowledge, while not giving up on their students – that is the goal of teacher accountability.
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Because teachers have a responsibility to their students and the community, they need to be held accountable in some way. Engineers cannot make a bridge that crumbles without being held accountable. A doctor cannot diagnose someone incorrectly without being held accountable for it. Airplane pilots cannot crash a plane without being held accountable for it. In the same way, teachers cannot neglect to teach their students something new without being held responsible for their actions. There are always going to be other factors that contribute to a students’ success. As a teacher, you need to be willing to do everything you can to work towards achievement and success. Students can do anything if you give them a little push and your support. Students can break through boundaries and defy the odds as long as someone gives them a chance. As a teacher, you need to accept that you will be responsible and accountable for your actions, and work hard, just like doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, office managers, retail workers, and everyone else, despite these other factors.
You are absolutely correct that teachers, like nearly all other professionals, ought to be held accountable for their performance. In particular I thought it was a good observation that even though principals do not scrutinize teachers, the students often know which teachers are good and which are not.
I do think that the extent to which teachers ought to be held accountable is a grey area, though. It’s difficult for me to argue, for instance, that teachers need to be concerned about every student’s life outside the classroom – something that they have little control over.
Nonetheless, you brought up a lot of good points and I fully agree with the overarching argument.
I agree with you. I was a doctor, and now I begin my new career as a science teacher. I think education is a process that changes lives. Teachers have an important roles with their students. They can push students go further and better, or otherwise. Love your post so much! Thanks!