Accountability in Schools Teacher Accountability

¶ … Accountability in schools [...] teacher accountability and the mandated standards for teachers that have not been reached in many states. Teacher accountability is an important aspect of the educational experience, but today, accountability seems to be the only aspect of education, and in the end, this may shortchange America's students by creating a nation of teacher's who are qualified on paper, but do not really reach their students in the classroom.

In the article States struggle to reach teacher qualification goals by Annie Schleicher, the author discusses the "No Child Left Behind Act" and the struggle for the nation's teachers to reach "highly qualified" standards by the end of 2006. What makes a highly qualified teacher? The teacher must have a bachelor's degree, be fully certified in the state where they teach, and must demonstrate mastery in the core subject they teach. There are several problems with this requirement.

Each state has different certification and mastery requirements, (which also must be approved by the federal government) (Schleicher, 2006), so teachers cannot easily move from one district or state to another, and most of the nation's teachers have not reached the mastery goal by the end of 2006. In fact, a government report issued in August 2006 show NO state has reached the accountability standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act.

While accountability in the schools is an excellent idea, there are many reasons why the current teacher accountability standards are not working. First, each state sets its own goals and mastery levels, which does not lead to a nationwide level of mastery or expertise. Second, the government must approve the state's standards, which adds another level of bureaucracy to the process. Next, even the federal government Department of Education acknowledges there are many problems with this system.

As the author notes, "In addition, the Education Department requested more details on how states were going to guarantee that highly qualified teachers are distributed equitably among all students, especially poor and minority students, a part of the law not previously addressed" (Schleicher, 2006). Thus, even if all a state's teachers reach highly qualified status, there is no guarantee there will be enough teachers in each subject to reach every student in every school.

Next, these teacher accountability standards may lead to highly qualified teachers on paper, but they may not be the best teachers in the classroom. Finally, it seems the accountability standards are still not fully developed. The federal government acknowledges four states have made no effort to comply with the standards, and that only nine have made acceptable strides toward eventual compliance. Therefore, the government has backed the 2006 deadline off a year to 2007.

The government threatens removing education funds from states who do not comply, but this seems like it would be impossible to achieve. In other words, the standards may be unachievable, and the goals to reach them may actually be taking attention away from the classroom, where the teachers belong. Personally, I have seen teachers and known some teacher candidates who were not really interested in their students or their careers.

They simply looked at teaching as a job, and chafed at the requirements for them to continue their education and continually stay on top of their own mastery of their core subjects. I knew one prospective teacher who was considering education as a major simply because of the holiday breaks and "three months off every summer." Unfortunately, there are teachers like this in about every educational system in the country, and they reflect badly on the rest, who are professional, caring, and highly qualified.

Teacher and school district accountability is important, even critical in many areas. However, teachers are not simply evaluated on paper, and in this legislation, there is no room for teacher contribution in the classroom. As I mentioned before, many teachers are dynamic and powerful in the classroom, and these teachers touch children's lives, no matter what the dynamics of their "mastery" of a subject is. They make learning fun and accessible, and that is the best kind of teacher for any situation.

There is no evaluation of how the teacher's really teach, only evaluation of standards met and test scores achieved. Ultimately, this may lead to less qualified teachers in the classroom. They may be highly qualified and masters of their subjects, but they may not be able to interact effectively in the classroom, and the truth is obvious. A boring, highly qualified teacher is simply not going to be as effective or as memorable as a dynamic, but perhaps less "masterful" classroom expert.

In conclusion, the No Child Left Behind Act and teacher accountability may seem good on paper, but in real life, they are difficult if not impossible to implement, and the legislation behind them seems poorly thought out and nearly impossible to execute. Schools should be accountable for teaching children, and teachers should be accountable for.