Student Achievement - A Shared Responsibility

Shouldn't pupil achievement be considered a shared responsibility?

While test scores do not reveal everything about a teacher's performance, they can and should be factored into his/her evaluation. However fair is fair. The vast majority of teachers I knew and worked with during my 35 years as a teacher and principal laid their collective souls on the line for the inner city kids they served. If they were unable to extract better outcomes, it wasn't because of a lack of effort or motivation on their part. Rather it was because their training did not reflect the knowledge base. This is especially true in the area of literacy training where a recent report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that most schools of education do not include reading science in their core curricula.

It is unfair to make teachers the default scapegoat under such circumstances. If teachers are to be held accountable, so should those who prepared them. If that were the case, everyone including the kids would likely perform better.

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Teachers as Scapegoats

Teachers, you have worked hard to grow professionally prior to and throughout your career. But you might be surprised to learn what they have omitted from your training. Check out this article at http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/43647802.html