One constantly hears about accountability and what a terrible job teachers are doing within the schools. Of course, in most cases when comparisons are made to other countries, there’s an apples-to-oranges paradigm being in play.
So, aside from accountability, aside from having teachers give more tests and post those tests as a justification for merit pay, tell me what I should do as an educator. What would make me better? How can I work better with my class, with the parents, with the community?
You see, even if we believe that testing and “accountability” is an important measure of how well we are doing as teachers (and I do not concede this), then where is the follow up? Where are the suggestions telling us HOW to do better? Where is the change in curriculum? Where are the scientifically proven changes in pedagogical practices?
You won’t see any, of course. Most of those who push policy are far removed from the rank and file and have little understanding of the process of education. When corporations attempt to control education, then corporate strategies and corporate motives rule. And is that really what we want for our schools? For our children?
