Accountability and control in American schools*

Abstract

One of the most controversial and significant of contemporary education reforms has been the teacher accountability movement. From this perspective, low-quality teachers and teaching are a major factor behind inadequate school performance, and a lack of accountability and control in schools is a major factor behind the problem of low-quality teachers and teaching. In turn, to advocates of this reform movement, the solution is to centralize control of schools and hold teachers more accountable. Utilizing a sociology of organizations, occupations and work perspective, the objective of this article was to offer a critique of the teacher accountability perspective and movement. This article draws from, and summarizes, the results of a series of empirical research projects on the levels, distribution and effects of accountability and control in American schools. The argument of the article is that the teacher accountability perspective overlooks some of the most important sources and forms of organizational accountability and control that exist in schools and overlooks the ways schools themselves, and in particular the ways they are managed and organized, contribute to the teacher quality problem. As a result, teacher accountability reforms often do not succeed and can have a negative impact on teacher quality and school performance.     

Re-thinking America's Teacher Education Programs

More than ever before, our nation needs teachers who are not only motivated to teach but who are also properly educated, trained, and prepared for the many challenges that are facing our nation's K-12 public schools. The education departments and schools at our colleges and universities cannot continue to do business as usual—they need to adjust their teacher preparation programs to effectively support the changing times, and to provide our future teachers with a realistic and rigorous education. There is little or no disagreement among educators, social scientists, or anyone else for that matter, that great schools are the product of great teachers. It makes sense, therefore, to create a world-class teacher education and training program.     

Exploring the real-world decision-making of novice and experienced teachers

For the past two decades, those involved in teacher training have encouraged teachers to incorporate evidence from research into a process of critical reflection to improve the quality of their decisions. Using research as part of a deliberative reflective process has been thought to enable teachers to learn from their practice. However, teachers’ decision-making has proven highly impervious to external influence. Teachers often resist reflective models that attempt to take their thinking to deeper, critical levels and are unlikely to use empirical evidence to inform their decisions. Given these conditions, this study seeks further insight into teachers’ pedagogical decision-making amidst the complex dynamics of ‘real-world’ educational contexts. Based on a systematic review of over three decades of decision research, a questionnaire was developed to investigate the decision process of 80 pre- and in-service teachers working in the post-compulsory sector. Data were analysed to uncover how these teachers made sense of the range of information that came into play when deciding how to resolve a pedagogical issue and the sources they used to inform their decision-making. If those involved in pre- and in-service teacher training could build upon teachers’ intrinsic decision processes, they could potentially support greater decision effectiveness.     

关键教学事件在教师培训中的应用

关键教学事件应用于教师培训解决了常见教师培训模式中的不足,促进了教师的专业发展与提高,在信息技术的支持下,关键教学事件在教师专业发展中具有广阔的应用前景。     

Student effort response to shifts in university admission policies

Policies which change the incentives students face are important levers for policymakers to improve learning. I study a statewide postsecondary admissions policy in North Carolina which introduces minimum admission standards for students wishing to attend college in-state. Regression discontinuity estimates show that high school students respond by increasing GPA and decreasing absences and suspensions, suggesting increased engagement. However, I find that the boost in GPA is driven by students substituting away from demanding coursework. Finally, I document stark heterogeneity of response across demographics, as minority and less affluent students have higher effort allocations but do not engage in strategic course-taking.     

教师课堂教学情绪调节策略初探

教学不光涉及到知识的传递，而且关系到教学态度、教学情感等因素。其中，教师的教学情绪会对课堂教学产生重要的影响。教师在进行课堂教学时，必须随时对自己的情绪进行合理的必要调节，以良好的情绪状态和和谐的课堂氛围促进教学顺利进行。     

谈教师的口语美

教师的口语是教书育人的首要工具,是教师的基本功,口语的好坏直接关系着教书育人质效。因此我们教师要不断地加强语言的修养,达到口语的最高境界:语音的准确美,语速的适中美,音量的自然美,分量的精当美,语气的文雅美,思想的健康美,风格的风趣美。     

Friendship formation in inclusive early childhood classrooms: what is the teacher’s role?

This study examined strategies teachers reported using to support friendships among young children in inclusive early childhood classrooms. The teachers included 25 general early childhood educators from 9 child care centers and 20 early childhood special educators from 9 specialized programs. The Playmates and Friends Questionnaire for Teachers documented the number and nature of children’s friendships and teachers’ reported use of 11 different strategies to support individual friendships. Overall, the friendship strategies that teachers reported using most frequently included providing sufficient free choice time, allowing children to form their own friendships, and commenting on the play between friends. The majority of teachers reported rarely using two strategies: arranging for children to play together outside of the classroom and allowing two friends to exclude other children from their play. Teachers reported using more active friendship strategies to support dyads in which one or both children had special needs. Implications of these findings to support friendship formation in inclusive early childhood settings and directions for future research are presented.     

Teacher attitudes towards inclusive education in Finland and Brandenburg,Germany and the issue of extra work

Positive teacher attitudes are considered an important prerequisite for the successful inclusion of students with special educational needs in the mainstream classrooms. This study surveyed teacher opinions about inclusion in Finland (N?=?298) and Brandenburg, Germany (N?=?163), two educational systems in which the number of students transferred to segregated special education is exceptionally high in international comparison. For the measurement of attitudes, a 10-item scale, teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education, was used. The results showed that Finnish teachers were more positive towards inclusion than Brandenburg teachers (d?=?0.46). The Brandenburg teachers were especially worried about the extra work caused by inclusion. This concern was possibly related to the different structures of educational organisation. Additional support services were more easily available for the Finnish teachers than for their Brandenburg colleagues. It is argued that teachers’ concerns should be addressed to promote inclusion in schools.     

教育信息化2.0背景下的高职教师专业素养提升研究

《教育信息化2.0行动计划》开启了我国全面推进教育现代化的新征程,高校中教育信息化的实现在很大程度上依赖于教师的专业素养。文章以高职教育信息化应用现状为例,指出信息化教学在当前高职院校中存在的一些问题,包括传统教学观念需要转变,信息化应用程度停留在表层以及在信息化教学中创新融合精神不足,从而从更新教学观念、提升教学能力、加强信息化教学评价等方面来提升教师专业素养,以适应教育信息化2.0时代的新要求。