"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
Research has shown that schools contribute about 20% of variance to student scores. Therefore, teacher effect is only a fraction of that 20% (Berliner 2013). "Out of school factors" such as poverty (Wiseman 2012) play a much bigger role in student achievement. So why do we stress teacher accountability so much? There are multiple lines of reasoning for this.
First, we want to blame someone. It is human nature to do so and rarely do we ever blame ourselves. When our students do not perform as well as other nations, we want to point fingers and it is easily to point at teachers. Rather than seeing student achievement as being the result of a complex system, we isolate one component of that system and we say, "This is why our students are failing." That sort of myopic view leads us to make ill informed decision to try and remedy the situation. By not consider the system as a whole, we fail to understand how the different parts influence each other. It is like trying to fix a broken clock by replacing a single gear that we a priori think is important without understanding why the clock is not working in the first place. Blaming teachers is the easy solution and ultimately the wrong one.
Second, it is easier to hold teachers accountable. After all, we can "measure" learning easily on an exam. We really can't hold students accountable. How would we create a standardized exam to measure student motivation or work ethic? We definitely can't hold parents accountable. Can you imagine the uproar it would cause if we made parents take standardized exams on parenting? Finally, we can't hold society accountable because that would mean we'd have to hold everyone accountable, including ourselves. Even though a child is influenced more by factors outside of school, we can't measure those and so instead, we focus on the one factor that we can supposedly measure and we make it high stakes to show that we mean business. By failing to address the system as a whole, our efforts at reform are misguided and even self-destructive.
Third, unlike other professions, teachers do not generate revenue for companies. The products of a teacher are students. Sure, teachers do request curricular materials, but they tend to use them for years to come. Medical doctors, on the other hand, prescribe drugs or buy the latest medical equipment and consumables on a regular basis and thus generating revenue for companies. Engineers design products that can be sold. If you think about it, the only other profession outside of teaching that generates almost no revenue to companies is probably the priesthood. By degrading and deprofessionalizing teaching, companies can tap into the vast federal funding that is provided towards education. This is why we place so much emphasis on "bad" teachers and how our educational system is failing. The education-industrial complex needs us to believe this if they are to make more money. That is not to say that our educational system is the best one in the world. There are certainly better ones out there, but here's the irony: Despite claiming that our educational system is broken, the companies and policymakers that drive "market reform" are not doing anything to emulate those educational systems that are successful. Just read Pasi Sahlberg's book where he outlines what works in the best educational system in the world right now, Finland. Finnish children don't start formal schooling until age 7, they have minimal use of standardized exams, they encourage teacher autonomy, etc. If we are going to complain about our educational system, then we need to be copying what other successful systems are doing. Sadly, that won't happen because what works doesn't bring in big bucks for companies.
These are just some of the reasons why teaching is being deprofessionalized, but undoubtedly there are many others. The fact of the matter is that, there will always be good teachers and bad teachers. I would like to believe that more often than not, bad teachers are a result of lack of training/experience rather than willful negligence. Instead of punitive measures, we need to help them to be better teachers. After all, we don't kick patients who are too ill out of the hospital or students who struggle out of school. So why do we punish teachers instead of offer them the professional development and support that they need?
- Berliner, D.C. (2013). "Sorting out the effects of inequality and poverty, teachers and schooling, on America’s youth". Chapter 9: Educational Policy and the Socialization of Youth for the 21st Century. New York: Teachers College Press.
- Sahlberg, P. (2011). Finnish lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland. New York: Teachers College Press.
- Wiseman, A.W. (2012). The Impact of Student Poverty on Science Teaching and Learning. American Behavioral Scientist. 56:7 941-960
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