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
Your concept map does a good job showing where the concept generated from and how that power branches off to other people. It also shows how influential one can be because of their power and the impact it has on all parties involved. Even though this concept is fairly new, it has still become a popular topic with lots of power over many people. If this concept turns out well, I think it will be even more powerful than what it currently is.
ReplyDeleteI like the complexity of your map. I do believe that the media plays a larger role in the political spectrum of teacher accountability because the political players that are in the limelight use education as a platform that most voters can relate to. This is also an avenue to detour from larger issues such as jobs and the economy. The issues that our nation and state are facing are very complex indeed. Politicians that are looking for a vote encourage parents and voters to question teachers and our public educational system. They give the public difficult questions to ask educators in a confrontational manner instead of offering insight into the difficult and complex arena of high stakes teaching.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem is that teachers do need to be held accountable for their job/students’ performance. There are way too many teachers who are not providing an exceptional education for our nation’s students. They hide in the corners or behind their unions and this should be not accepted. On the other hand, there are teachers who utilize best practices and are true professionals. It is complicated. Being in the Urban Principal Program has opened my eyes to the struggles that administrators have to contend with and deal with within their schools. One of the biggest issues that they face is helping ineffective teachers improve their practices without jeopardizing the teachers that are effective and true artists in their craft. If teachers are not able to meet the demands of high stakes teaching they should move on to other professions.
Of course this raises the big question that should have more attention. How do we assess teachers and student performance? Does one test determine the level of effectiveness? What about individual needs and considerations? The complexity level gets elevated at this point.
Our nation is not considered to be the “best” any longer. We are considered to be struggling with educating our youth by the rest of the world and this challenges our egocentric beliefs. The other thing to keep in mind when we are comparing our education system to other countries is socioeconomic and class systems. We have a system or perceived obligation in place to “educate” “all” children. Many countries that we are compared to only educate the privileged. Students mainly come from affluent families and even then are selected by their parents to be educated. It is kind of like our own DOE comparing Indiana schools to other states. Even though the demographic situation that I discussed regarding other countries is different, other stated use different means to evaluated student growth. Even so, they are all trying to compare apples and oranges.