As teachers, we are familiar with the policy issues
facing education. From rigid teaching guidelines to an outdated curriculum and
lacking mentor programs to socioeconomic inequality, teachers handle it all. We
are aware that the issues need to be addressed, but how much do we really know
about the issues? What can we do to fix the issues? As teachers, it is time for
us to stop sitting on the sidelines and become the teacher leaders who advance,
research, and advocate for education to see real changes that affect the
classroom, student learning, and teacher development. We must know and understand
education policies and become the teacher leaders our profession needs.
Policy Issues
Over the years in education, many policies have been made
to help students succeed and retain teachers. Unfortunately, most of these
policies, although created with good intentions, were not created with
classroom teacher input. Administrators may have once been classroom teachers,
but many of them have been out of the classroom for too long to give relevant
input when designing policy.
Teacher mentorship.
As a student teacher, you have a mentor teacher who helps guide you, provides
feedback, and can be a comfort knowing that you are not alone in a class of 25
or more students. This teacher is a great resource and helps you answer any
questions that may arise. However, after graduation and student teaching, the
mentor teacher disappears. You are alone in front of the students and may not
have any resources to help guide you or provide feedback. In many parts of our
country, a mentor for beginning teachers is not required after student
teaching. In Oklahoma, a teacher mentoring program is optional for district
participation (Oklahoma Commission on Teacher Preparation, 2012). Even further
in the Enid Public Schools district, teachers are only required to meet with
the principal twice a year for an evaluation (OSSBA, n.d., Section D-DNA). This
lack of mentorship and support leaves beginning teachers overwhelmed and can
give a sense of “drowning” in the overload of tasks involved with teaching. According
to Berry, Byrd, and Wieder (2013), “few programs have the qualities (that is,
mentoring by trained veterans, a reduced teaching load, and so on) known to
improve the retention of teachers in the classroom” (p. 1). Great teachers will
move professions if they cannot find support in the classroom. Many times, new
teachers can find a “buddy teacher” to vent to and exchange ideas with, but
this “buddy teacher” does not take the place of a quality mentor program. Once
new teachers leave the profession, their new, innovative teaching goes as well.
This leaves veteran teachers and PLCs lacking in schools where professional
development may be lacking already.
Freedom to teach. Over time, teachers
have been given manuals to teach from and an allotted time to teach each
subject. Teachers were taught how to instruct through direct-instruction and
student memorization. Times have changed. Researching instead of simple memorization
is becoming more common. In this continually growing technological age, it is
important for students to learn in ways vastly different than ever before. With
access to research and information instantly, the ways of No Child Left Behind and direct instruction are irrelevant. NCLB
“promotes a cautious curriculum and a timorous teaching style” that cannot be
used to teach today (Berry, 2011, pp.21-22). Teachers need to integrate digital
media for a more relevant curriculum, but teachers need the support,
preparation, and freedom for flexible learning, minimally guided approaches,
and fully serving students in the moment to make these changes in their
classrooms.
Curriculum design.
In many states and districts across the country, curriculum design just
happens. Teachers are unaware of the changes taking place until they are
required to teach a certain curriculum. In Oklahoma, a committee of twelve
people create a list and choose the textbooks for the entire state; from the
developed list, a local committee of three to nine people make specific
district choices (Oklahoma State Department of Education, n.d., pp. 318-322).
This is an incredibly small number of people to choose the textbooks for the
entire state or at a district level. The individual districts are not represented
at the state level, and this does not seem to give a sense of what is needed
from schools around the state. Even though the committees are supposed to
mainly consist of teachers, the chosen teachers may not represent the ideas,
beliefs, and practices of the many other teachers throughout the state. Without
an input in curriculum design, teachers are left blindly teaching materials
that could be irrelevant for their students or do not support best practices in
this ever-changing digital age.
Professional development. Often,
teachers only have access to professional development that supports student
needs or the current curriculum being used by their school or district.
Professional development is generally costly, and with increasing budget
shortfalls, schools are not offering professional development that is not
required or does not directly support their curriculum. According to Oklahoma
policy, professional development should be focused on reading and literacy,
with math, technology, mentoring, and hands-on science following as funds
allow. Although literacy is extremely important, the other categories are of
equal importance today. Science, math, and technology are developing at extreme
rates. If teachers are not kept knowledgeable and up-to-date in these fields,
students cannot be expected to meet the increasing demands for these subjects
and professions. Technology takes “well-prepared, expert teachers to offer
deep-educational opportunities” (Berry et al., 2013, p. 5). Teachers cannot be
expected to meet these demands if they are not properly trained. In an
ever-changing world, that means consistent training and learning in all fields.
Socioeconomic
inequality. Throughout all areas of the United States, socioeconomic
inequality is prominent. This can be seen everywhere, especially in schools.
Great teachers are going to great schools with better pay and resources and
leaving lower-income or poverty/minority students (Berry, 2011, p. 31). These
schools and students are losing resources, they do not have funding, and they
cannot recruit or keep the great teachers that they need to best serve
students. Funding has been given to states to help low performing schools, but
the money seemed to disappear. Under ESEA FLEX, schools were supposed to be
turning around the lowest-performing school and supporting teachers, leaders,
and local innovation (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.). Was this done?
Oklahoma is still under-performing and under-funded. Will ESSA change any of
this? According to Betsy DeVos, ESEA, as amended by ESSA, will give parents a
greater choice about the “right educational environment for their child” (Devos,
2017). However, if low-performing schools lose students and continue to lose
teachers, students in these areas who do not have access to resources to make
the right educational choice will potentially lose access to educational
opportunities, thus making the socioeconomic divide even greater.
Teacher Leaders
Teachers, it is
time to step up. We need our voices to be heard and our opinions to matter.
Being a teacher leader is not easy. Resources, such as those form Levin and Schrum
(2017), can help teachers understand some of the roles and responsibilities teacher
leaders possess (p.8). It is nerve-wracking and requires pushing boundaries
that have been in place for far too long. Teachers need to advocate for the
profession and students by staying current on policies and best practices
through committees, newsletters, education associations, and local school organizations.
If you find information, bring it up or share it on a blog. The odds are, other
teachers do not know the same information you just learned. Teachers need to
push for more information instead of accepting what is given and push to be on
the committees (such as the curriculum, textbook, or professional development
selection). As needs arise, if there is not a committee, then create one with
other teachers to lighten the workload. Even further, offer to help a new or
struggling teacher, and do not be afraid to speak-up if you need help yourself.
Teaching is hard, and standing up can be difficult due to administration and
policy pushback. However, if we stand together, we can make a huge difference
for all.
References
Berry,
B. (2011). Teaching 2030: what we must do for our students and our
public schools: now and in the future. Retrieved from
https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780807770870
Berry,
B., Byrd, A., & Wieder, A. (2013). Teacherpreneurs: Innovative
Teachers Who Lead But Dont Leave. Retrieved from
https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781118806159
DeVos,
B. (2017, March 13). Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or
Deputy Secretary. Retrieved July 21, 2017, from
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/secletter/170313.html
Levin,
B. B., & Schrum, L. (2017). Every teacher a leader: developing the
needed dispositions, knowledge, and skills for teacher leadership.
Retrieved from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781506326443
Oklahoma
Commission on Teacher Preparation. (2012, December 28). Welcome to the Oklahoma
Mentor Network! Retrieved July 21, 2017, from
https://www.ok.gov/octp/Professional_Learning/Mentoring_PDI/#purpose
Oklahoma
State Department of Education. (n.d.). 2015 School Law Book [PDF file]. Retrieved
July 21, 2017, from
http://sde.ok.gov/sde/sites/ok.gov.sde/files/2015%20%20LAW%20BOOK%20FINAL%20%282%29.pdf
OSSBA.
(n.d.). Enid Public Schools -- Policy Online. Retrieved July 21, 2017, from
http://z2policy.ctspublish.com/ossba/Z2Browser2.html?showset=enidset
U.S.
Department of Education. (n.d.). Turning Around the Lowest-Performing Schools
[PDF file]. Retrieved July 21, 2017, from
https://ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/turn-around.pdf
U.S.
Department of Education. (n.d.). Supporting Teachers, Leaders, and Local
Innovation [PDF file]. Retrieved July 21, 2017, from https://ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/supporting-innovation.pdf
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