School testing culture and teacher satisfaction

Abstract

Teachers, as frontline providers of education, are increasingly targets of accountability reforms. Such reforms often narrowly define ‘teacher quality’ around performative terms. Past research suggests holding teachers to account for student performance measures (i.e. test scores) damages their job satisfaction, including increasing stress and burnout. This article examines whether the relationship between test-based accountability and teacher satisfaction can be, in part, explained by the emphasis of student test scores in teacher appraisals. Although historically used for formative purposes, recent research demonstrates that across a large range of countries, nearly all teachers work in a system where their appraisal is based, in part, on students’ test scores. Using data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey, we pool data from 33 countries to evaluate the direct and indirect effect of school testing culture on teacher satisfaction. Results suggest that there is a direct relationship between the intensity of the testing culture and the satisfaction of teachers, as well as an indirect relationship with test score emphasis in teacher appraisals suppressing potential positive effects of appraisals on teacher satisfaction.

School Governing Body Chairpersons’ Perception on Their Accountability in the Running of Schools

“…To these SGB chairpersons therefore, every effort is made to ensure that all problems are resolve at the level of the School Governing Board before they escalate. In line with the above analysis, the authors believe that Smith and Holloway (2020) were to a greater extent correct in their disclosure that the process of evaluating school performance based on learner performance measures narrowly defines educator quality. Thus, educators play a multifunctional role which range from ensuring that the school climate is good enough for learning as well as classroom management.…”

“…Just like in politics and the legal sector, those charged with the responsibility of managing other public sectors like the school principal (Skedsmo & Huber, 2019), is equally expected to give an account or be answerable to the public or community which it serves. With learner performance being one of the key areas of concern for stakeholders in Schools of Africa, Smith and Holloway (2020) are of the concern that the process of evaluating school performance based on learner performance measures narrowly defines educator quality. Hence, the drive to raise standard by school authorities according to Lewis, and Hardy, (2015) has therefore resulted in a more tightly curricula frameworks and testing regimes measured by test scores though not limited to those.…”

Does It Matter Who Evaluates Teachers? Principal Versus Teacher-Led Evaluation and Teacher Motivation

“…While not central to our guiding research questions on the relationship of evaluators to important changes in teacher motivation and practice, one notable and consistent finding from our study is the negative relationship between a principal’s use of extrinsic motivational tools after evaluation, such as rewards and consequences, and teacher outcomes (e.g., practice/motivation). Scholars have warned about the negative ramifications of high-stakes evaluation (Ford et al, 2018; Guenther, 2021; Holloway et al, 2017; Lavigne, 2014; W. C. Smith & Holloway, 2020) where teacher evaluation outcomes are tied to extrinsic rewards such as promotion, salary increase, etc., particularly on factors such as teacher affective states, motivation, retention, and school culture and climate.…”

Backtalk: The harm in assessment-backward practices

“…This may include benign efforts like improving school lunches on test days so students will perform better (Figlio & Winicki, 2005) to the more serious, like outright cheating (Hibel & Penn, 2020) or removing more vulnerable student populations from the testing pool (Booher-Jennings, 2006). Accountability policies have been linked to increased levels of dissatisfaction among teachers (e.g., Smith & Holloway, 2020). I would argue that other consequences include increased reports of student test anxieties (e.g., Segool et al, 2013; Von der Embse et al, 2018) and more parental support for alternative modes of educations, such as homeschooling (Wang, Rathburn, & Musu, 2019).…”