Blaming Teachers? Educational Accountability and Student Performance

Should we evaluate teachers according to how well their students perform?

If students do not master the curriculum, should teachers be held accountable, with the loss of employment or denial of tenure, etc.?

John Merrow, at the Wall Street Journal, goes pretty far in advocating that level of accountability:

Suppose a swimming instructor told his 10-year-old students to swim the length of the pool to demonstrate what he'd taught them, and half of them nearly drowned? Would it be reasonable to make a judgment about his teaching ability?

Or suppose nearly all the 10-year-old students in a particular clarinet class learned to play five or six pieces well in a semester? Would it be reasonable to consider their achievement when deciding whether to rehire the music teacher?

These questions answer themselves. Only an idiot would overlook student performance, be it dismal or outstanding.

However, suppose test results indicated that most students in a particular class don't have a clue about how to multiply with fractions, or master other material in the curriculum? Should that be considered when the math teacher comes up for tenure?

Whoops, the obvious answer is wrong. That's because public education lives in an upside-down universe where student outcomes are not allowed to be connected to teaching.

Ten years ago, I encountered this view in an interview with Jack Steinberg, the vice president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Here is the exchange:

He said, "You're asking, can you evaluate a teacher on the performance of the students?"

I said, "Yes or no?"

He said, "No, you cannot."

I, incredulously, said, "You cannot evaluate a teacher on the performance of his or her students?"

He said, "Right."

Merrow continues with a discussion of New York City's debate over the use of student performance data in teacher tenure decisions, a move the teachers' union opposes.

Merrow makes a concession to factors outside of instruction that hinder student performance, but doesn't back down in his basic argument:

Of course, not every kid comes to class equally able to complete the day's assignment. Some are new immigrants, others are gifted, and still others might have a learning disability. These factors affect test scores as much as or more than who is teaching.

Still, students at whatever level of performance can also be evaluated on how much they've improved over a given period of time.

So, there's the qualifier.

If we're simply looking at student learning during a course or semester, that doesn't sound so bad. But if we're looking at larger indices, like the number of students passing state assessment examinations as part of a high-stakes testing regime, with high percentages required for "measureable competence," a lot of teachers are going to get fired.

Judging teaching effectiveness is a tricky thing.

Which teachers have been the most important in our lives? The ones that "made" us learn the most, or the one's who set the standards of excellence, with high expectations of achievement, and who were available and accessable, and worked to advance the progress of their charges.

In my educational career, teachers and professors like that were the "best," although I don't know the numbers of students passing their classes or advancing to degree attaintment status in the academic program of record.

I consider myself a good classroom instructor. Whether I'm great - or the best - depends on what students or outside evaluators think. I like to think of myself as professional, taking my job seriously and fulfilling my formal responsiblities with excellence to the best of my training and abilities. I know the material I teach (recall the issue of uncredentialed instructors at low-income schools), so it's methods that matter in getting students to learn, but I still have difficulties in performance outcomes.
But, in some ways most importantly, I simply care for my students, and I want them to perform well. I'll go to bat for them in tutoring or mentoring if they'll put some effort into their work.

But at community colleges, faculty face a crisis of epic proportions in the numbers of students who cannot perform at freshmen-level indicators of competence, which often means that students don't advance in the programs.

A report on California's community colleges in 2007 found:

Only one-fourth of California's community college students seeking a degree transferred to a university or earned an associate's degree or certificate within six years, a report released Thursday found.

The report noted major institutional factors, like funding levels and full- to part-time faculty ratios, although family and individual-level sociodemographic factors are also key:

The report also found that completion rates were higher among students who attended colleges full time, were enrolled continuously, completed an orientation course and registered on time for most of their courses.

"The colleges with the lowest transfer rates are typically those in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, areas like Southwest Los Angeles or Oakland," said Senate Education Committee Chairman Jack Scott (D-Altadena). "It's the same pattern you see with in K through 12 schools."

So, how do we sort things like this out?

Many of the students not progressing toward their degrees are failing academically, and the schools in "sociodemographically disadvantaged areas" are the ones that need the biggest push to high standards and accountability.

But we're going to deny tenure to teachers whose student fail to pass courses and fall short of annual progress?

I don't have the answers. But I can share some thoughts from a Joel Parkes essay in the Los Angeles Times, from May 2000, which is unavailable online.

The piece is entitled, "Something Wrong in Our Schools? Let's Blame Teachers," and Parkes' is concerned with teacher accountability and merit pay:

Next year I'll teach fourth grade, and my students will have been socially promoted through every grade and, by defininition, won't have the skills necessary for the work that the state and district standards require of them to do. Some of them, five or 10, won't even know the alphabet, through no fault of mine, but they won't be held accountable. I will be.

Out of frustration over not being able to do the work, a number of my students will chronically disrupt my class, so my learning environment will be adversely affected daily. There is no meaningful consequence for disruptive behaviour at my school, so none of those students will be held accountable in any meaningful way. I will be.

Other students will be so discouraged at not being able to do the work that they will make no effort. They will seldom complete homework assignments and will produce virtually no work in class. Our senior assistant vice-principal has stated that "we don't retain [hold back] students for not trying," so the students who do no work won't be held accountable. I will be.

I'll give you two historical examples of accountabililty and leave your with a question.

First, when the Roman legions marched, they built roads and bridges, some of which survive to this day. When the legions had to cross a river, the engineers were called on to design and build a bridge. After the bridge was built, the engineers stood under the bridge while the army crossed. That's accountability, but at least they had what was necessary to build the bridge.

On the other hand, when the Khmer Rouge seized Cambodia, they took the teachers and the other educated people to the rice paddies and said, "You're so smart and educated. Make the rice grow faster or we will kill you." So there were a lot of dead teachers in Cambodia. Accountability? The Khmer Rouge certainly thought so.

Consider, please: As a teacher, I have no control over a school system that does not require students to meet standards in order to move on to the next grade. But I am to be held accountable.

Parkes' story is a powerful example of why teachers might resist merit pay or tenure decisions based on student performance.

At my institution, and similarly situated community colleges, the students who arrive in our classrooms most often do not test into appropriate levels of academic preparation. Majorities of our students are assessed at remedial levels of language, reading, and computational proficiency.

Then we expect them to master abstract theories of political science, or philosophy, or psychology, so that they can transfer to a university and move on in their careers and lives.

I understand conservative frustrations with unions, and demands for merit pay or charter schools. I am conservative on these issues too.

But when there are so many other variables involved in explanations of student under-performance, calls for teacher accountability and teacher retention based on student performance are difficult to support.