Political Discourse Analysis

Link to political discourse article for teacher accountability and test scores

http://www.helium.com/debates/89519-should-teachers-be-held-accountable-for-low-student-test-scores/side_by_side?page=21

Teachers should be held accountable for test scores

Analysis:

• ·      Damaging conditions that do NOT become the problem
• ·      Construction of reasons for problems
• ·      Problems as benefits
• ·      Construction of problems to justify solution
• ·      Construction of gestures as solutions

The author on the left side of the article believes that teachers should be held accountable for students’ standardized test scores and lists reasons for why this is true. For example, he gives a brief explanation of why students could be failing in school by saying their parents aren’t as educated, they live in poverty, or they may be facing physical or mental abuse at home. 

However, the author’s point is that teachers should be held accountable by having a broader evaluation program.  He thinks the origin of the problem is that teachers are not being evaluated correctly.  He even goes as far as saying that standardized tests are a great way to show how teachers compare to one another each year.  Parents, curriculum, and administrators are all defined as “part of the problem”.  He goes on to explain how teachers should get a waiver if they do not want to teach the school’s curriculum.  Funding, discipline procedures, and professional development are some gestures thrown out to help solve the teacher accountability problem.

Teachers should NOT be held accountable for test scores

Analysis:

• ·      Construction of reasons for problems
• ·      Problem as ambiguous claims
• ·      Perpetuating of problems through policies that ameliorate them
• ·      Problems as benefits
• ·      Constitution of Authorities

The other side of this political discourse is that teachers should not be held accountable for poor test scores.  This author says the origin of the problem started with Russia and Sputnik, saying that’s when America started to freak out about their education system thinking that another country was ahead of them in education and economics. 

He presses the fact that standardized tests are just making the problem worse for the United States by negatively impacting the drop out rate.  Although, he does not define the drop out rate or give any facts for that matter.  He makes it sound like schools treat standardized tests like a god by holding pep rallies before the tests and making a huge deal on test day. 

Policies and politicians are commended for doing their best, but the author goes on a rampage by listing several solutions to the means.  He does not agree with the No Child Left Behind act, only saying that it made the problem worse.  He states that teachers would benefit from research-based evaluation and instruction methods, smaller class sizes, and a government that provides money for better resources for a tech savvy world. 

The power of this discourse is huge in today’s education debates.  Many people think that teachers should be trusted to do their job, be evaluated to some extent, but not solely on test scores.   The Department of Education is taking steps to address the concerns of this discourse in the political arena.  It seems that those who do not understand the high stakes at hand for teachers agree with standardized testing to be a valuable way to hold teachers accountable.  Hopefully, we’ll all come to a conclusion very soon because in the mean time, students are being taught to the tests in some places, schools are losing money, and some schools are being shut down.  

Concept Map of Teacher Accountability

This is a link to a concept map outlining the major political actors in teacher accountability, identifying relationships between actors and how they are affected by Race to the Top.  There is also a key that distinguishes color and role.

https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/rsnoeber/A560 Blog Links/Ardeel_ConceptMap10.doc

Value Analysis

To understand the building blocks of the education system, one must keep in mind the perspectives at hand.  In the 1800s, whether a child received an education or not used to be decided by their parents (for some people). For others, receiving an education was considered illegal.  For example, it was against the law for Black people to learn how to read.  Unfortunately, an unfair class system has formed over the years fueled by greed and superiority of particular peoples, which contributes to the state of education today.

For the majority, education was defined as a means for children to become good citizens.  Reading and math became the most important subjects for children to learn and teachers taught what they knew.  The backbone of our country had been formed on the values of freedom and liberty.  People lived to survive and to better the civilization of man.  With opportunity came the power of individualism, the ability to work hard and achieve the American dream.  America grew to require an education to understand her heritage and provide the tools to live.

However, in the past century, education has become a key component for the economic growth of the United States leading to better manufacturing, a greater workforce, and a reputation of being the most prosperous nation in the world. Therefore, state standards and high-stakes testing have become a governmental tool to motivate teachers and students to do their best.   However, is it working?  Holding teachers accountable is a strategy being used to improve education, and it's only part of a larger plan. Unfortunately, there are many values that are inherent to the issue of teacher accountability. 
 

If we look at the state of education as a puzzle, we can begin to identify the different perspectives of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and politicians.  Through my eyes as a teacher, quality versus efficiency has been a value conflict plaguing the education system for years.  All educators want the best for our kids.  In this situation, I'm saying an educator is every person that makes decisions that directly affect a child's education.  The quality of education is part of the foundation of a successful school, but the motivating question is why is it important.  Is it to keep the United States above other industrialized nations?  Is it to grow a child to become an effective and responsible citizen?  Perhaps and perhaps not.     

When it comes to teacher accountability and high-stakes testing, teachers have two things weighing on their minds.  Do they teach to the test or teach to the needs of the students?  The heart of an effective teacher wants to teach to the needs of a child, however, the negative pressures of losing their job or value-added analysis may drive teachers to stay on the safe side and decide to teach to the test. However, the good teacher has nothing to worry about when they can teach to the needs of children, but also love them enough to help them succeed on the test.  Quality takes the form of high expectations, higher standards, and high qualified teachers to get the job done.

Administrators want the best teachers, but sometimes they cannot afford the best.  High-stakes testing and teacher transparency have thrown another curve ball at school districts.  In order to weed out the bad teachers, high-stakes testing will show if students improve or not which could make good teachers look bad. On the other hand, good administrators know that high-stakes testing is only one way to show the effectiveness of a teacher.  Now, we're in the mess of comparing schools and identifying which ones are improving test scores in order to gain rewards (money).  How does this affect teacher accountability?  Teachers may or may not receive merit pay based on the school's overall performance.  Quality is at stake, because the good teachers may end up leaving for a better performing school.  

Equity comes into play as we discuss teacher accountability and the effect it has on students' education.  Under Ms. Rhee, D.C.'s school Chancellor http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/13/dc-relies-on-charter-schools-as-training-tool/?page=2, charter schools are improving the quality of education for children who are often called the minority. Hispanic and Black students make up the majority population of her school district coming from a low poverty level.  The current method of teacher accountability rewards schools that achieve "improvement".  Sometimes, that is difficult when considering the background of the student population.  More one-on-one instruction is needed when students have not had the proper preparation at the primary levels, which includes preschool and kindergarten.    

Another set of values that compete against one another is equality and efficiency.  In order to hold teachers accountable, much money is spent to provide high-stakes testing, which may not be the best way to evaluate the progress of every student because there are many factors that come into play when discussing the effectiveness of high-stakes testing.  Children’s family life, their background knowledge, poverty level, and how they are prepared for the test can affect the results of high-stakes testing.  In other words, the resources available must be distributed fairly, which brings the value of equality at hand.   

The method as to how to hold teachers accountable is a growing controversy between teachers, parents, administrators, and politicians.  Values of such individuals come into play when making decisions for our schools.  Some teachers hold the belief that the quality of education will improve if they do differentiated instruction instead of following scripted curriculum.  Others want higher standards of excellence so students will perform better on high-stakes testing. Some politicians want lower costs but higher expectations of students and teachers.  This makes it difficult for teachers who need more money to operate smaller classrooms, implement one-on-one instruction, and purchase new textbooks.  Taking away special programs such as music, art, and after school activities cause children to lose interest in their schooling, which leads to poor performance in class. Which leads us to the question of whose perspective is right and which one is going to best serve the students of America? 

   

Political Actors

1.  The National Education Association (NEA) is an organization that has existed since 1857 and fights for quality education in public schools.  The NEA merged with the American Teacher’s Association (ATA) in 1966 by collaborating their efforts to promote equality and justice for all public school children and educators. They support the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) as well as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), however, they do not agree the policies are currently working due to how they are being implemented.  They have submitted several agendas to Congress outlining the criteria they believe will move schools forward.  The NEA is opposed to holding teachers and schools accountable by standardized testing alone.  They believe that schools and teachers should be evaluated for the sake of the students but argue that other rational measures should exist in order to make any valid decisions. The NEA supports smaller class sizes, equitable funding, after school programs, and parent-teacher mentoring programs to name a few.  They promote the idea of the Growth Model being used as a tool to provide individualized instruction for students instead of penalizing teachers and schools.

The NEA has submitted a great reauthorization plan of the ESEA to Congress emphasizing quality leadership and curriculum by giving teachers a voice in the policy making arena and creating policies that offer incentives for parents who are active in their child’s education.  This link provides more insight into NEA’s stance on teacher accountability and provides contacts to reach out to Congress.

http://www.nea.org/home/NoChildLeftBehindAct.html

Teacher Accountability

Teacher accountability has become a hot button issue around the nation.  In Indiana, teachers are being held accountable by high-stakes testing and some teachers’ jobs may be at risk.  State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, says that teachers must be held accountable for the academic progress of their students. He adds that parents will be able to see the academic progress of students and teachers via a website called Learning Connection.  In his State of Education address he states, “By next fall, parents will be able to see the growth history for their child’s teacher so they will know how successful that adult has been in helping students grow academically. What a powerful tool for parents!”  The “growth history” of a child’s teacher is defined by the student’s test score based on the Indiana Growth Model data.  Bennett adds, “We should reward, remediate and even remove teachers as appropriate.”   

Will holding teachers accountable really improve student learning?

Some links are provided so you can gain a better perspective on the issue:

The Indianapolis Star has a commentary about rewarding teachers based on student success.  You’ll need to click on the quotes in order to read each person’s thoughts.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100912/OPINION03/9120337/1032/OPINION03/Rethinking-teacher-pay?GID=Zo0vxaik+FkBfsiKS1cXHXS2qDgQCyL2QDJ9H2AQChs%3D

The following is an excerpt from Channel 8 News giving a summary of Tony Bennett’s strategy to improve education for Indiana schools along with a teacher’s view of his plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Gmo3KQ6J0

New York Daily News has an article about a teacher who followed up on the success of his students from 2002.  See what he concludes.   http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/09/14/2010-09-14_teacher_says_system_failed_his_students.html

Connecticut’s paper challenges Obama’s plan to hold teachers accountable.

http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7466/states-teacher-evaluation-plans-too-weak-federal-reviewers-say

Want a different perspective? Here’s an article supporting teacher accountability in Syracuse, New York. 

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/09/rating_teachers_they_have_a_to.html

Will holding teachers accountable improve student learning? How can we improve education for students?   

Blog Set-Up

Assignment #1--Done.  Now I'm thinking about my hot topic issue.  This could take awhile.