Effectiveness vs. Accountability in Teaching
In my graduate program, I am required to take a course on the theory of rhetoric. I am in that course right now, and last week, we had an interesting conversation about the definitions of words and what the words we choose for certain policies say about the policies themselves. There are about a million ways I could go with this – and I probably will sometime in the future – but the passage that I found the most interesting, and that generated the most interesting discussion, is as follows:
To illustrate the process by which the unconsidered choice of terms can lead to dangerous conformity, consider a couple of different examples from the worlds of education and business. When schools are supposed to be “accountable” instead of, say, “effective,” the debate over “tests for the tests of [educational] success” is short-circuited. We assume that the “objective” measures of accountancy provided by standardized tests are valid while broader, more complex measures requiring interpretation are “too subjective” to fit neatly in our accounting ledger. Hence we end up arguing over what to do about “underperforming” schools and whom to blame for their failure while setting aside discussions about what success and failure might actually mean. And students likewise are invited to internalize the judgment of a multiple-choice test that defines them as smart, dumb, or average.¹
Wow. There is quite a bit going on here. Let me just start by saying that this entire book is written in what is supposed to be a sarcastic, quippy manner meant to reach the resistant students of rhetoric, and I hate texts written like that. Give me the scholarly textbook any day. Also, I think we would all agree that it’s easier to talk in a sarcastic manner about accountability and effectiveness in teaching than to actually BE accountable and/or effective. It is also always a more clear-cut distinction between the two when you are not actually in the public education system.
I do agree with the sentiment in this passage that we do sometimes end up losing sight of the fact that school is about more than just test scores. School is about building relationships, inspiring young minds, encouraging even the most resistant of students. But what is all of that if the students are not learning the material? As a teacher in a school concerned with accountability, I have 100% bought into the idea that holding schools accountable for teaching students core curriculum is incredibly important. I understand that not every student will go to college and, therefore, not every student will need all of the information that is on these standardized tests, but doesn’t every student deserve the option to go to college? And, therefore, doesn’t every student have the right to an education that will prepare them for whatever it is they decide to do after high school? I believe so, and I believe by holding these schools and teachers accountable in some way encourages effective teaching.
So, I’m not sure that effective teaching and accountability are necessarily opposing terms. If the teaching is effective – if teachers are teaching in such a way that builds relationships with students and inspires them to become lifelong learners in some way and encourages them to do their best and whatever it is they decide to do or must do in their lives while teaching them the core subjects at the same time – the accountability piece should eventually just fall into place.
Is this easier said than done? Of course it is. But no one said teaching was easy. (If you’re doing it right, it shouldn’t be easy!)
¹Work Cited: Ramage, John D. Rhetoric: A User’s Guide. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 48.
I can see where Ramage is coming from in this passage. The idea of accountability places responsibility for proving that education has happened almost solely on teachers’ shoulders, whereas the idea of teacher effectiveness has to do with the teacher-student relationship. The student isn’t really present in the concept of accountability, at least in my understanding of the term. You can say to teachers, I’m going to hold you accountable for this, which has an individualizing, isolating feel to it. But when we talk about effectiveness, we’re talking about how well a teacher does her job with her students. We must discuss the teacher-student relationship when talking about teacher effectiveness, because effectiveness takes students and their needs/contexts into account (ha).
I don’t think the two are opposing terms either, but they certainly have different connotations and we conceptualize of their implementation differently.
I can see where he is coming from, as well, because the words do have two different meanings, as well as two different connotations. However, I’m not sure that accountability is solely on the teachers’ shoulders. Accountability involves teachers, administrators, tutors, special program instructors, etc. In fact, under the present accountability model in schools, administrators are the first to go if a school is not meeting AYP (adequate yearly progress). But you’re right – it doesn’t so much involve the students. However, I don’t know how much effective teaching involves the students, either. Yes, there is a relationship between the teacher and student to consider in effective teaching, but the onus for a student’s success is still on the teacher, not the student him or her self. I wonder if there is a word that we could use that reflects a shared responsibility between teacher and student for a student’s educational success.
I wonder if there is a word that we could use that reflects a shared responsibility between teacher and student for a student’s educational success.
That seems to be the real problem in this whole conversation about who’s responsible for learning/teaching what.
I don’t teach in K-12 public schools, obviously, so I have different circumstances and constraints than K-12 teachers, but I have noticed that this language problem — this lack of a concept/word for students taking pride in and ownership of their education — has manifested in college classrooms as well. The special snowflake syndrome is a symptom of this problem. One way I try to combat this not-my-responsibility attitude in my students is to assign reflective writing assignments where students write about what they’ve learned, what they want to learn, how they can use what they’ve learned outside my classroom, and how they plan to learn/grow more.
Now, I’ve had students (my own little special snowflakes) use these assignments to try to tell me that they didn’t learn anything because I am a terrible teacher. This may or may not be true, but I believe and tell them that whether and how much they learn is ultimately up to them.
I also have the luxury of no parents and lots of curricular flexibility with my teaching, so this isn’t something everyone can do. But it might help solve the problem of students not being part of the accountability/effectiveness discussion.