Student-as-Client

Abstract

Metaphors help us understand students' role in education. Are students products, consumers, or clients? dents move through the system, they acquire skills and knowledge that enable them to become productive members of society; federal and state standardized test scores demonstrate whether students have acquired the skills and knowledge the system promises. This method has roots as early as the mid-1800s (Ramirez, 1999). Yet today's K-12 students still take a fl urry of high-stakes tests that are also being used to evaluate and inform teacher performance. Funding and resources provided to schools are linked to test performance as well. The Student-as-Product metaphor closely aligns with reforms that link student assessment with teacher performance (Ramirez, 1999). Teachers are pressured to ensure that the "product" is the highest quality. If the product is defective, then the teacher is at fault and enters a strenuous evaluation process, risking dismissal without improvement to their practices and products. Ramirez notes that this view of reform assumes teachers are either inadequately skilled or lack the motivation to increase student achievement and therefore must be retrained or replaced (1999). Reform models in Florida and Colorado align with the Student-as-Product metaphor. Florida awards public schools a letter grade based on student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT). Districts that receive an A or B or demonstrate improvement in grades are rewarded with cash grants. In May 2010, Colorado passed the Great Teachers and Leaders bill, which ties 50% of a teacher's evaluation to student scores on standardized achievement assessments. Both state initiatives assume that teacher appraisal and punishment are "successful drivers" of reform (Fullan, 2001). We profoundly disagree with this assessment. Student achievement involves many factors beyond the teacher's capacity to teach or motivate; a student's failure should not be blamed solely on the teacher. The Student-as-Product metaphor and related reform policies fail to account for the fact that students and teachers function within particular institutional and societal structures and barriers. Currently,