What Teachers Expect in Reform: Making Their Voices HeardEducation reform and policy making have captured the attention of the American public. In a highly politicized agenda, federal and state improvement plans have become touted national education platforms with stiff penalties for schools and teachers who don't "make the grade". A system of controls is in place that has revolutionized how we organize, present, and evaluate education. Test-driven curriculum reflects new standards of what will be taught and assessed at each grade level. Through all of this, classroom teachers have been identified as the reason for our failing schools and the focus for improved school performance. Between 1998 and 2006, Penny Ann Armstrong interviewed over 300 classroom teachers and administrators in Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Texas about the effects of the national reform initiatives in their schools. This book tells their stories. Their narratives are candid, often impassioned, and many times troubling. They describe what is really happening as they work to accommodate federal reform policy. These teachers describe reform efforts that may be well-intentioned but have resulted in serious and far-reaching consequences. They feel they have been robbed of their professional authority in their classrooms and they feel many of the changes they are required to assimilate are limiting their opportunities to teach and compromising learning for students. This book brings the reader into the classroom to see from the teachers' perspective what is really happening in our schools today and why the current reform efforts cannot succeed. |
Contents
A Brief History of Education Reform | 13 |
Teaching for Improved Student Achievement | 27 |
State Tests and Their Power in the Classroom | 49 |
Copyright | |
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What Teachers Expect in Reform: Making Their Voices Heard Penny Ann Armstrong No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
academic actual Additionally adequate yearly progress administrators assessment authority child classroom teachers College Board complex curricular curriculum standards decisions defined dents Department of Education deskilled education reform Education Week Educational Testing Service effects efforts emotional ensure evaluation federal focus funding goals going grade level guidelines Hampshire high school identified impact implementation improve input-output model interpretation issues kids knowledge learning limited look meaningful measure meet monitoring Nation at Risk NCLB parents participate pedagogical policy makers political populations pressures problems profes profession professional development reform plan responsible schedules school day school districts skills special education standardized curriculum standardized testing student achievement student test scores success Symbolic interactionism talk teacher competency teacher quality Teachers describe teachers feel teaching strategies test results things tion U.S. Department ucation understand union