BLAMING THE TEACHER

By Elaine-Kirn Rubin and Arthur Rubin

There continues to be a great deal of buzz regarding the issue of teacher accountability. Arthur and I have always had a problem with government mandates – often receiving widespread public support - requiring that student performance be used as a benchmark for evaluating teacher competence. We believe it is just wrong-headed to hold teachers entirely or even mostly responsible for how kids perform on standardized tests.

Teachers should not be held responsible for childhood experiences that influence later academic performance. They shouldn’t be held responsible for the factors often impacting students in the classroom – poor parenting, domestic abuse, family financial problems, gang violence in their neighborhoods – there are too many to name.

Teachers shouldn’t be held responsible for crowded classrooms, the shortage of educational materials, inadequate facilities and lack of supporting programs resulting from budget cuts. And teachers shouldn’t be held responsible for the impact of competing interest groups – e.g. supporters of privatization, test providers, religious groups.

The question of what influences student performance is an extraordinarily complex one. We should be devoting our energies to understanding what factors do and don't affect performance. Until we have made some progress here, it is counter-productive as well as unjust to scapegoat teachers when student test scores don’t measure up to unreasonable expectations.