Politics of education and teachers’ support for high-stakes teacher accountability policies

Abstract

Abstract:Although educators are at the center of contentious high-stakes teacher accountability policies, we know very little about their attitudes toward these policies. This research gap is unfortunate because teachers are considered key actors in successful implementation of educational reforms. To what extent do the politics that accompany the introduction of high-stakes teacher accountability policies affect teachers' support for the policies themselves? To address this gap, we used data from an experimental survey of teachers in New Jersey (n=444), where a new reformTeacher Effectiveness and Accountability for Children of New Jersey Act (TEACHNJ)-was signed into law in 2012 and implemented shortly thereafter. The cornerstone of the reform is a new Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 25 No. 87 SPECIAL ISSUE 2 evaluation system that ties student performance on standardized tests to teachers' evaluations. We found that the majority of teachers in our study oppose the new evaluation system. Teachers' attitudes were shaped by the politics of the key actors advocating for the policy, perceptions of implementation efforts, and beliefs in the potential outcome of the policy. Open-ended responses indicated that teachers question the validity of the evaluation system and are concerned about the negative intended and unintended consequences of the system. We conclude this paper by discussing the implications of these findings for policy studies and policymaking. Keywords: Accountability; education reform; politics of education; teachers; teacher evaluation system; teachers' attitudes; experimental design; New JerseyPolítica de educación y profesores en apoyo a las políticas de rendición de cuentas Resumen: Aunque los educadores están en el centro de las polémicas políticas de responsabilidad de los maestros, sabemos muy poco acerca de sus actitudes hacia estas políticas. Esta brecha de investigación es desafortunada porque los maestros son considerados actores clave en la implementación exitosa de las reformas educativas. ¿Hasta qué punto la política que acompaña a la introducción de políticas de responsabilidad de maestros de alto riesgo afecta el apoyo de los profesores a las políticas mismas? Para abordar esta laguna, utilizamos datos de una encuesta experimental de maestros en New Jersey (n = 444), donde una nueva reforma -La Ley de Eficacia y Rendición de Cuentas de los Maestros de Niños de New Jersey (TEACHNJ) poco después. La piedra angular de la reforma es un nuevo sistema de evaluación que vincula el desempeño de los estudiantes en las pruebas estandarizadas con las evaluaciones de los maestros. Encontramos que la mayoría de los maestros en nuestro estudio se oponen al nuevo sistema de evaluación. Las actitudes de los maestros fueron moldeadas por la política de los actores claves que abogaban por la política, las percepciones de los esfuerzos de implementación y las creencias en el resultado potencial de la política. Las respuestas abiertas indican que los docentes cuestionan la validez del sistema d...

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