Race to the Top: What Matters Most?6 Comments
In “The Teachers’ Unions’ Last Stand: How Obama’s Race to the Top Could Revolutionize Public Education,” New York Times Magazine, Steven Brill argues that “what the reformers have come to believe matters most is good teachers.” He later reiterates that “the core of the reformers’ argument, and the essence of the Obama approach to the Race to the Top, is that a slew of research over the last decade has discovered that what makes the most difference is the quality of the teachers and the principals who supervise them.” Yet this claim quickly yields to the refrain of how difficult it is for school districts to rid themselves of bad teachers. Of course teachers matter—a great deal; as do the principals who supervise them. Since our teachers often shoulder the brunt of the responsibility for the success or failure of schools, how do we invest in teachers to ensure the success of all students?
As the June 1 Race to the Top deadline nears, the buzzword in education is accountability—which we are to understand as teacher accountability. Teachers must be held accountable for the learning gains—or lack of gains—of their students. Some would suggest that the best way to hold teachers accountable is to look at students’ test scores. Is this really the best way to measure the skill and ability of a teacher? How can we develop a meaningful system of accountability that looks beyond the individual teacher to the broader context of a school or a school district? How do we spread the accountability evenly and appropriately?
Ellen Dempsey
President and CEO
Teachers Network
Comments
As the Director of the Teachers Network Leadership Institute—comprising full-time teacher leaders from throughout the country—I constantly hear first-hand that, in order to make this happen, “the teacher’s voice” must be front-and-center in all related discussions. Further, teachers need to not only feel—but directly experience—myriad forms of SUPPORT that other professions take for granted, such as: networking with like-minded individuals; collaboration with and among all stakeholders (including teachers, principals, parents, etc.); and, access to much-needed resources and opportunities for professional and intellectual growth. Clearly, teachers, administrators, and education decision-makers at all levels have a vested interest in making sure that these supports are provided. Key here is the idea of collaboration and reciprocal accountability at all levels.
How do YOU think that these education stake-holders can ensure teacher supports are in place? What is the role of principals and administrators in doing so? And, how do you think parents and others can best be included in these conversations, accountability measures, and support initiatives? **Finally, what examples and structures have YOU seen (or would like to see) at your school—or within your own communities—that successfully demonstrate this kind of critical support and collaboration in order to provide for the highest degree of success and achievement for all our nation’s students?
Peter A. Paul
Director
Teachers Network Leadership Institute
My principal once came to me and said that another administrator saw that I was calling myself the “Hiring Chair” and wanted to know what my principal thought of that. My principal told him that it was wonderful because I was indeed the Hiring Chair at the school.
It is really disheartening when, as a teacher, I am not considered a key decision-maker and I could only hold a position such as Hiring Chair in my school if I am posing or making it up. I am lucky that I am at a school (bcamhs.org) where my leadership is valued and respected enough that I can collaborate with my principal and other colleagues about extremely important things like who will be hired to work on our team. Additionally, being part of a supportive network like The Teacher’s Network Leadership Institute (TNLI) has only contributed to my growth as a teacher leader.
I agree that accountability must be reciprocal. The people who want me to strive for the success of a school, a district or a national education system must in return be striving for my success and supporting me as a teacher-leader.
Honestly, the people in the positions to hold me accountable should really be my students and their parents and they have never had a problem with me being a history teacher and the Hiring Chair…
toni Coston
Met Life Fellow
TNLI Member
BCAM Teacher
History/Hiring Chair
So what can we do better, as a Teachers Network Leadership Institute Fellow, I would feel remiss if I didn't link to The Teacher's Vision of The Future of Education: A Challenge to the Nation (found at http://teachersnetwork.org/tnli/). The document was written 20 YEARS AGO....Let me type that again....20 YEARS AGO....and while the language is a bit different, the concepts are the same. 20 years ago teachers across the country came together and talked about teacher and community empowerment. The problems they presented then are the same problems we are presenting today. And the solutions aren't that different either. I encourage anyone who wants to know how to fix thing to begin by reading that document.
Stop blaming the teachers. Period. We are powerful. We have answers, and we have the power to change the system. Let us do our jobs, and give us space to talk freely about our struggles and our triumphs. A good veteran teacher will take a newbie under their wing without anyone asking. Newbies in our system make it despite the system, and because some veteran teacher babied them through. Veteran teachers show newbies how to play the system. We show new teachers things like how to organize the THOUSANDS of papers we collect in the course of semester. We show them how to ignore bad administrators. We show them how to put the "right" aim on the board for administrators, and then how to teach the "right" lesson for the kids.
It sounds simplistic, but the reality is that research tells us teachers do well when in networks and with strong mentoring. I hate sharing these trade secrets, but the reality is, when we get mentored, often much of what we talk about how to beat an oppressive system.
Anne
Public School Teacher
Bronx, NY
He invites new teachers to celebrate their calling to join one of society's grand professions and then makes clear in his descriptions what a worthy calling teaching is. Rose recognizes how teachers are universally praised as the solution to our educational problems while they are also condemned as the root cause of all that's wrong with out schools. He calls the condemnation of teachers this "craziness"...an ideological battle to define what teaching is.
This is a news article those in the teachng profession should read and applaud.
Judy
Foundation Director
LA, CA
Especially when city, state, and federal tax dollars are on the table, I firmly agree that every participant in the broad sphere of education - and let's not forget parents - must account, looking inward and examining their role in the youth development process. But this is not point-your-finger accountability. This is distributed accountability. Not distributed so broadly that nobody is to blame when we don't perform at our best, but the opposite. Everybody has to 'step up their game' for it to work. (See: Distributed Accountability: How District Leaders Create Structures to Ensure Teaching Quality, by Jennifer Goldstein, for an example.)
Not surprisingly, many teachers, like me, feel disempowered when they are faced with the grim fiscal realities we urban teachers see each day. Our principals are often tasked with the Herculean job of balancing all of the competing student and staff needs, and they don't always get it right. In some schools, teachers remedy this by coming together and changing the leadership of their school to a teacher-centered one. (See http://freep.com/article/20100708/NEWS01/7080367/Detroit-Public-Schools-tries-something-new--A-school-run-by-teachers )
There is no one correct model for distributed leadership or distributed accountability. But it should begin with the acknowledgement that public education is a shared task and each participant - from the Chancellor all the way down to the student - must account for their involvement in it.
Justin Wedes
TNLI MetLife Fellow
Science & Technology Teacher
Brooklyn, NY