Lately, educators in the New York area have been bristling about their "report card" scores being posted for public view. If you haven't been following this story, K-12 students' aggregate state test scores were posted as a comparison measure for all teachers in New York. Proponents say that this practice helps parents and citizens keep informed about their students' overall progress and hold schools more accountable to student learning. Opponents counter that these scores do not fairly represent the contextual variables "on the ground" (e.g., the number and severity of special education students, funding issues, community troubles, etc.). It is quite an interesting debate!
What I find most interesting is that some teachers have become almost apathetic to these types of accountability measures, reading tea leaves that indicate that the era of No Child Left Behind will soon be ending and that we will return to the days where teachers and principals are charged with holding themselves accountable. Indeed, President Obama has waived a number of states from the strictures of NCLB. The times, they might be a changin'.
I began thinking about the idea of the pendulum swinging back after I read Jessica Lahey's insightful post about The International Community School in DeKalb County, Georgia, home of the largest refugee settlement in the country. The teachers at this school have had extraordinary success at reaching students whose issues span far beyond many of the "problems" that you and I encounter every day.
By focusing on the students "where they are" and working with them in a consistent, caring environment, these students are obviously thriving, even if they are not all going to pass the state standardized test. At a certainly point, that test doesn't seem to matter; this video is a poignant example of that! Interesting Dr. Laurent Dittman, principal of the school, comments that he thinks that the accountability pendulum is swinging back; NCLB will be but a bad dream in a couple of years.
I'm not so sure about that. I usually don't like to speculate about the future; there are too many variables. However, when I look at the decade-long influence that NCLB has had on public education, I can't help but think that even if the pendulum swings back, the "fixed point" from which it swings has itself shifted. The language of accountability is pervasive in the schools and in the communities. Many companies have made a lot of money creating these tests that they are not likely to simply abandon. Indeed, the idea of a "basic test" of knowledge for all students, even if it is at a state level, has a certain amount of appeal for many stakeholders, including under-represented groups that have seen measurably more success since NCLB's creation than before.
Let me be clear, I think that NCLB should get an A for concept and an F for implementation. I think that making teacher "report cards" public is a mistake; there are way to many variables to make these scores meaningful and informative for the general public, let alone the teachers themselves. I would also welcome the end of NCLB so that teachers can get back to instruction instead of worrying about "the test." I don't, however, think that the pendulum is swinging back to the good ol' days. The "fixed point" has shifted.
Here's the rub, though... if the pendulum is swinging back, educators have the opportunity to get out ahead of it. Now is the time for US to think about what it means to be an accountable professional, leaving the politicians and the fear-mongers who know little about education out of the conversation until WE have deliberated about this topic. What does it mean to be a "public scholar?" What purposes do WE see for education? What roles should WE play in the public sphere?
