Teacher Accountability

The best way to ensure that teachers are doing a good job is through teacher accountability.  Teachers are responsible for preparing students for postsecondary education and the workforce by making sure that students comprehend course material and learn important skills that they will use after high school.  Just as teachers measure student progress, making them accountable in learning new material, teachers need to be held accountable in the effectiveness of teaching methods.               

            How to do this?  The consensus of late has been an emphasis on standardized tests administered to students to measure their understanding of concepts and material relative to their grade level.  Most are done annually so that progress (or lack thereof) can be tracked from year to year.  I am not sure this is the best method, or to what extent this is used to measure teacher effectiveness.  Exams cannot and should not be the sole means of judging an academic program’s success or failure, which is often the case.  That is not to say that yearly exams are not useful, but that they should be taken into account in conjunction with other variables.

            Frequent teacher observation by school officials are important to ensure that teachers are doing a good job and have the resources they need to help students meet course goals.  This has been demonstrated to work well in struggling schools in Connecticut.  By measuring teacher effectiveness with direct observations, teachers who need more assistance in developing better teaching methods can have more contact with school officials who can provide them that assistance.  Teachers who are deemed to be effective and whose students perform well can also share their techniques with administrators and can improve the overall system.

            Another important factor in ensuring good teaching in public schools is communication.  Not just between students and teachers and teachers and administrators, but also between teachers and parents.  Frequent communication between teachers and parents of students can be important to academic achievement.  Keeping parents “in the loop” of school events can help keep students on task.  Parent-student communication is also important, but that is much more difficult to regulate. 

            Teacher accountability is of prime importance to student success in the public school system.  It should be a concern for everyone, not just parents of students or public officials.  The advancement of education and excellent quality education is a concern for society as a whole.  Beyond just taxpayer concerns of appropriation, education is a major driver of economic progress and can be the difference between a more developed, egalitarian society and one in which day to day subsistence is a struggle.  It is up to society to recognize the importance of education.  It is up to teachers and parents to do everything in their power to help students succeed.  It is up to students to put forth their best effort.