Sidelining Teachers in the Education Discussion Makes No Sense

When I was growing up, we had a kiddie table at Thanksgiving in another room, while the grownups sat at the big table making important family decisions between bites of turkey and sweet potato pie.

This insightful comment from Alfie Kohn sums up what has become to me a parallel scenario in the national debate on education reform: Classroom teachers have been pretty much pushed to the margins, if not shut out entirely.

Alfie Kohn: What Passes for School Reform: "Value-Added" Teacher Evaluation and Other Absurdities.

Unfortunately, the people who know the most about the subject tend to work in the field of education, which means their protests can be dismissed. Educational theorists and researchers are just "educationists" with axes to grind, hopelessly out of touch with real classrooms. And the people who spend their days in real classrooms, teaching our children -- well, they're just afraid of being held accountable, aren't they? (Actually, proponents of corporate-style school reform find it tricky to attack teachers, per se, so they train their fire instead on the unions that represent them.) Once the people who do the educating have been excluded from a conversation about how to fix education, we end up hearing mostly from politicians, corporate executives, and journalists.

Consider some recent examples:

1) How many of our nation's leading classroom teachers are included in the list of main speakers and panelists at the upcoming NBC Education Nation Summit?  We are, however, invited to a Teachers Town Hall meeting, and there will be separate activities focusing on the students' point-of-view.

2) An upcoming Oprah Winfrey show on education will have as guests on stage two experts--Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates. (Hopefully, more balance will be added before it airs or in a subsequent show).

If teacher voice is represented at all, it's usually in the form of a obligatory invitation to the teacher union presidents. Worse yet, we teachers are surveyed or allowed "input" or "buy-in" after major decisions have been made. For example, despite some highly publicized listening tours and town halls, Secretary Duncan and the Department of Education have shown little interest in serious revision of their Blueprint for ESEA Reauthorization, paternalistically dismissing concerns expressed by teachers on how some of these policies will negatively impact students and teaching quality.

Isn't it a waste not to let the nation hear more from the people who have dedicated their lives to education, and who in fact have done everyday, year-in and year-out exactly what we claim we want to see happen more in our schools? For starters, there are over 82,000 National Board Certified Teachers in this country, and the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards is certainly one organization that has led the way in defining and identifying highly accomplished teaching.

Then, there are the many subject area organizations, each with its share of recognized expert teachers. These include the teachers that other teachers look to for examples and advice. I would also proudly recommend my colleagues here at Teacher Leader Network, several of whom are trailblazers in education on many fronts, and have made measurable and meaningful differences for students over their careers.

If the quality of classroom teaching is as important as research and experience tell us it is, why should the ideas and insights of quality teachers continue to be a sideshow to the education reform main events?

Comments

[David Cohen]

You tell 'em, Renee! I find myself vacilating between despair and resolve - in both cases driven by anger. Wouldn't it be nice if WE had a billion dollars in OUR "charitable" foundation to invest in the people and resources to promote an alternative viewpoint here?

[TeachMoore]

David,
Teachers viewpoints--pro, con, or other alternatives--are simply not being given due respect in the conversation. Those who have the billion dollars should at least be interested in what the real experts have to say.

[Terilyn Colacino]

Renee and David,
I am noticing that many educators are not keeping their fingers on the pulse of education (excluded, of course, are the names I continually see posting excellent discussions on Ed Week, Edutopia, Accomplished Teacher, Inside Higher Ed). I would like to discuss this issue with you, Anthony Cody, Diane Ravitch, and Linda Darling-Hammond at some point. I'm currently enrolled in the Ed.D. Program at USC Rossier and am shocked at how many of my peers do not actively read these free online journals. Furthermore, at the university I work at, our future teachers in the School of Ed program are not being educated on how to keep their fingers on the pulse of education. How are we to expect that Educators will ever be brought to the "adults' table" if we don't teach them how to stay current and active? Is there any way to do that? My email is terilyn.colacino@cui.edu please let me know your thoughts, thank you.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Well, we could just reprint this column monthly, couldn't we, swapping out the names and dates of "town halls," "summits," "blue ribbon panels" and silver-bullet policies?

Terilyn's point is interesting-- certainly, there is a large percentage of teachers who pay little attention to the pendulum swing of policy churn and the discourse around national issues. I've spent years trying to engage practitioner colleagues in discussions around research and policy--including "recognized" educators. The default excuse is "I just don't have time." And some will honestly tell you that's why they pay union dues--so someone will represent them.

Most of those teachers, however, are in the thick of decisions they feel they do have control over: curriculum, classroom management, local and in-building policies and leadership--the way that their workplace is interpreting and enacting those federal policies. Give them a journal article to read and they will tell you (rightly) that Renee's correct: journal articles are written by people who don't live their realities.

[Terilyn Colacino]

I don't know, Nancy. When I taught special education for ten years I didn't read any articles or stay up to date with current issues in education because I was so busy and had no time. But I will say this, had someone, even a union representative, turned me on to Ed Week, Accomplished Teacher, etc, I would have been hooked, as I am now. I have become passionate about spreading the word to fellow educators to get involved and start reading up on current issues within our industry of education. It creates dialogue and furthers the language of our discipline. I truly feel that articles from those whom work in the trenches can effectively reach the others that are working in the trenches. Just figured this topic would be a strong candidate for a gap analysis to see if we have at least a 50% average of teachers that are actively reading about the education industry. I'd even like to compare that to the average government officials with an education background that are dictating education policy. It goes back to giving the educators a seat at the table. Thoughts?

[Renee / TeachMoore]

You're right, Nancy; we've seen this pattern many times, but I'm hoping if we keep raising the issue at some point it will become less easy to ignore.

Terilyn, I'd love to see such an anslysis. More important, I'd like to explore ways of reaching those teachers who are underinformed about education issues. I recently pleaded with a roomful of resentful educators to be proactive about finding information on our state dept. website and/or using Internet to inform themselves.

On the other hand, I have heard some education officials take teachers to task for relying on social media, especially blogs or Twitter, to get informed on ed issues. Are they concerned that we aren't able to differentiate reliable information from gossip? Or, they afraid of what a critical mass of well-informed teachers might do?

[Karen Kraeger]

As an NBCT, I thought I might have the opportunity to be involved in all sorts of educational discussion in my district, if not the state. This is not the case. In fact, the state of Georgia decided in last year's budget crisis to rescind the 10% salary bonus for NBCTs, despite the fact that it was clearly promised in previous policy decisions.

For a state that is desperately trying to move ahead in the educational world, Georgia needs to make better use of our multitude of knowledgeable and innovative education professionals.

It seems as though education is run just like every other business in the world. The higher-ups make almost all of the decisions without consulting those on the frontlines, who know what is really effective!

[TeachMoore]

Brian Crosby at Learning is Messy has posted a great blog on this same topic: http://bit.ly/dyHJ42

[Jennifer Palmer]

I agree...but part of the responsibility for fixing this is our own. What are we doing to get involved as a profession? Are we inviting politicians to our classroom? Are we writing press releases for the great things that happen in our schools? Do we understand how policy is made and how best to get a seat at the table?

I am not saying it is our fault that we are not at the table. I am saying that it is time we start asserting ourselves and not leaving it for others to define our jobs and our working conditions. In this new electronic age, we have more opportunities to get the word out about the great things going on in our schools. We have an easier time writing to congressmen. We can blog, photograph and otherwise document opinions. If everyone did ONE little thing...what power we'd have.

[Terilyn Colacino]

Renee, I just read Brian's letter to NBC, excellent. I truly believe that the time has come for teachers to start being loud, the unions can assist, but it is the responsibility of the teachers in the end. Sure, we pay our dues to the union, and they help with some issues, but if the teachers really have had enough... it is time to get loud. There are several, and I mean several, organizations out there that are speaking this language. However, they are not united as one whole body. I want to see Teacher's Letters to Obama (TLO), TLN, Million Teacher March SOS, NBPTS, Ravitch's Strengthening Our Schools, Race to Nowhere (Vicki Abeles-parent), Judy Chu, EVERYONE join together as a united front to take a stand. Now, I have no idea how to make that synergy occur. Perhaps bloggers, writers, supporters, unions, online journals, etc can start calling for this united front... Calling All Educators... or some sort of united effort to make a showing to bureaucrats and the poorly informed population that enough is enough! Let Educators Lead!

[Valerie Pientka]

I just sent a scathing email to Oprah on the upcoming show with Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates. Other than Gates having way too much leverage in education today, because of his vast resoureces, I really don't have too much to say, but Michelle Rhee!@#$%^ I hope others will send a message to her that a balanced discussion should be the goal.

[Nancy Flanagan]

When teachers say they want to be treated as professionals, and then claim they "don't have time" to stay on top of the critical issues in their field, it's an abdication of professional responsibility, as Jennifer notes.

I do believe that most teachers are involved with the local policy issues that matter most to their practice, whether they think of them as "issues of policy and practice" or not. There are thousands of examples of teachers fighting--hard--to keep salary bonuses, choose a math curriculum or change the master schedule.

When the focus shifts to state and national education issues, that's when teachers put their heads down and grumble about not having any say. I have high hopes that social media will help change that.

[TeachMoore]

I agree with you Jennifer and Nancy. We teachers have to be more proactive in our response to state and national issues. I know that's hard to keep up with along with our teaching, but as Nancy has pointed out, social media is a great help in that effort.

@Terilyn, social media can also be the key to bringing these various grassroots movements among teachers, parents, and students together.

@Karen, I and many other NBCTs have voiced those same frustrations. Some of us have had more success than others asserting ourselves into the policy conversations; but it seems counterintuitive that those making policy or underwriting it would not seek out the wisdom of practitioners sooner, rather than later. You might be interested in the results of a series of statewide NBCT summits held around the country published by Center for Teaching Quality: http://www.teachingquality.org/publications/teacherleadership

[Susan Graham]

When she appears in Superman and on Oprah, Michelle Rhee is sure to talk about her efforts to improve teacher quality through high standards and rigorous evaluations for teachers. She prides herself on having the backbone to fire bad educators. I wonder if she will share the same examples of teacher incompetence that she related in her address to her classroom recruits in August.

Rhee told of a teacher who put masking tape on first graders' mouths to keep them quiet and how their lips bled when the tape was removed. This same teacher took children on a field trip without collecting parent contact information. When a 7-year-old didn't know his address at the end of the day, this teacher eventually left the him with "someone in the neighborhood who recognized him."

Rhee is right. Incompetent teachers should be dismissed. But, in spite of this ineptitude during three years of teaching in a Baltimore charter, DC Public Schools hired this alternatively certified teacher.

The incompetent teacher is Michelle Rhee. And as she shared her first year "war stories" with her new teachers, do you know what they did? They laughed. See for yourself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/08/13/VI2010081305444.html

Rhee is a darling of the media and a guest of honor at the school reform table while highly accomplished teachers are expected to "know their place" and stay in lunchroom where they belong.

Is it any wonder that our children are still Waiting for Superman?

[TeachMoore]

Superbly done, Susan. You always drive straight to the point. Why are the media and policymakers so enamored with folks like Rhee who have little (and/or mediocre) experience or knowledge of education? Why is the expertise or advice of truly successful teachers dismissed?

[Steve Owens]

Concerning "not having enough time", those of us on the labor left know that piling additional work on people is a strategy to disenfranchise workers. Under conditions of increasing workload organizing conversations become exponentially more difficult. This strategy is venerable, whether you're talking teachers or overworked nurses, or factory workers or....

My teaching world is full of wonderful colleagues who are 110% engaged with their students all the time. Isn't this how it should be? As a negotiator I see our Association engaged in a continuous rearguard action on working conditions changes that threaten to eat up more and more of our lives with "professional responsibilities."

I think we should avoid blaming overworked practitioners and rather place the blame for policy disengagement on the well worn fascist strategy of preventing people from organizing in their own interest by working them to the bone.

[Kathleen Kosobud]

What a great collection of comments. I, too, had hoped that my being an NBCT would have given me some "ins" with policymakers. However, in a scientifically-based, research-proven environment, the lived experience of the classroom makes little of an impression on policy-makers. Rigor, accountability and accountability are the coin of the realm these days. Those of us who don't make obedient subjects are bound to be shunned by the powers that be.

Which brings me to a more urgent question--if we truly are in favor of being empowered to determine our own fates, how can we affect the mid-term elections? I feel as if I have a bad choice, and a worse choice. My bad choices are educable (maybe), and my worse choices won't even hear me. Any thoughts?

[Kathleen Kosobud]

Aw, shucks! I didn't proofread closely enough. I meant to say:

"Rigor, accountability and transparency"

(off with my head!)

[TeachMoore]

Point well-taken, Steve. Many of us are working extremely hard, and lack of time for things like planning and collaboration (much less political involvement) has been one of the top problems cited by teachers around the country for a long time.

For those of us working in open-shop states without the benefit of union "rearguard action" there can be even more pressures.

Those working conditions, and how they affect students and teachers, however, are exactly the type of thing we need to be bringing to the public's attention. Where I'm at, too many teachers simply resign themselves to being powerless and silenced.

I wonder how Brian Williams and the other professional journalists would respond to a major media event focused on improving newscasting in America at which they were relegated to a sideshow discussion, while those who manipulate, regulate, and ridicule the media dominated the center ring?

[prashantn]

Well, It would be nice in India too, if the Teachers were given more importance

warm regards
prashantn

http://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com/