Teacher accountability, datafication and evaluation: a case for reimagining schooling
13 Apr 2020-Education Policy Analysis Archives (Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida. c/o Editor, USF EDU162, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5650. Tel: 813-974-3400; Fax: 813-974-3826; Web site: http://epaa.asu.edu)-Vol. 28, Iss: 56, pp 56-56
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors push the boundaries (real and perceived) of how we think about teacher accountability, education and the purpose of schooling in contemporary times, and explore more universal features of contemporary schooling practices that undermine teacher expertise, autonomy and professional discretion.
Abstract: The purpose of this commentary is to push the boundaries (real and perceived) of how we think about teacher accountability, education and the purpose of schooling in contemporary times. It takes as a starting point a view that recent changes to the Every Student Succeeds Act does little to shift the underpinning logics of high-stakes teacher accountability that ultimately threaten the stability and adaptability of public schools. Building from this presumption, it explores more universal features of contemporary schooling practices (e.g., standardization, datafication and evaluation) that undermine teacher expertise, autonomy and professional discretion. The purpose is to provide a new lens for thinking about the role of education and to radically disrupt the ‘norms’ we have come to accept as necessary features of modern schooling. Ultimately, it serves as a thought experiment to provide some space for imagining new possibilities and thinking “outside of” the traditional accountability “box”.
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TL;DR: The field of educational technology has always been rather a complicated one, involving a diverse mix of academic learning scientists, educationalists, instructional designers, educational technologists, managers, and commercial companies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Any analysis of edtech needs to acknowledge how it is embedded in sprawling educational issues that go beyond the idea of a particular type of pedagogy or set of school practices to complex relationships with technology development, business, economics and politics, as well as to individual behaviours, bodies, physical settings and local cultures, which require similarly complex analysis (Castaneda, Salinas, & Adell, 2020;Castaneda & Selwyn, 2018). [...]studies maybe so profoundly dedicated to research questions about technological effects that they bypass the crucial educational questions (Bartolome, Castaneda, & Adell, 2018;Zawacki-Richter, Marin, Bond, & Gouverneur, 2019), or so focussed on learning sciences methodologies and explanations -privileging psychological, cognitive and neuroscientific understandings of learning- that they neglect the complex social, political, economic and technical factors that shape individual and collective experiences and outcomes in education (Kirschner & Kester, 2016). Rather, from a relational perspective, we can appreciate that edtech, to be contextually produced, distributed and used;interacts with bodies and behaviours;is used differently in highly diverse situated settings;carries the imprint of its producers' business plans and objectives;is caught up in (trans)national policy agendas and geopolitics;requires funding and investment from financial sources;emerges from specific practices of RDis marketed to schools and universities in new global marketplaces;is inspired -explicitly or not- by certain theories or assumptions about pedagogy, education or learning;generates various forms of evangelism, accommodation, caution, non-use or outright rejection;is entangled in ethical challenges and questions over fundamental rights to education;surfaces profound contests over the claimed purposes and values ofeducation;and much more. In this section, we highlight some emerging issues and challenges that edtech research is only just beginning to unpack, and which raise questions about the kinds of theoretical toolboxes, analytical frameworks and methodologies required for such studies. 2.1New Edtech Actors The field of educational technology has always been rather a complicated one, involving a diverse mix of academic learning scientists, educationalists, instructional designers, educational technologists, managers, and commercial companies.
36 citations
Cites methods from "Teacher accountability, dataficatio..."
...Staff performance data may also be collected directly, or by proxy from calculations of student outcomes and progression and used as potential decision-making tools about professional teachers’ careers (Adell, Castañeda, & Esteve, 2018; Holloway, 2020)....
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29 Apr 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the nature and purpose of interpersonal trust in student/instructor relationships within online higher education institutions and investigate the role of trust in influencing student feedback-seeking behaviour, engagement and achievement, in terms of attainment of academic goals.
Abstract: Online educators must establish the kinds of trust that are uncommon in didactic, mechanical pedagogies. This conceptual paper asserts the importance of building and sustaining trust between higher education students and their instructors within the online environment. Instilling trust can construct sustainable learning environments that are abundant with collaborative inquiry and dialogue. The themes explored in this paper highlight and investigate the conceptual construct of trust and its antecedents. We address the nature and purpose of interpersonal trust in student/instructor relationships within online higher education institutions. We also explore several factors (in particular, performativity, casualisation of teaching staff, neoliberalism, non-traditional student identities and the digital divide) which influence the development of trust. We investigate the role of trust in influencing student feedback-seeking behaviour, engagement and achievement, in terms of attainment of academic goals. Notably, we highlight the importance of further inquiry into methods of rapport-building in higher education. Theoretical foundations have been drawn from Indigenous scholarship as well as organisational and socio-psychological literature. We close by welcoming further discussion of and reflection on institutional practices and performance measures in the digital environment and whether they allow instructors to embed relational aspects and elicit cognitive and affective trust from their students.
4 citations
Cites background from "Teacher accountability, dataficatio..."
...In these data environments, the “quality” of the teacher is narrowly defined by numbers, while “improvement” is defined as increasing these numbers, rather than improving practice” (Holloway, 2020, p. 4)....
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TL;DR: A pesquisa, de natureza quantitativa e qualitativas, utilizou, como procedimentos metodologicos, analise dos documentos legais e normativos referentes ao Premio Escola Nota Dez as mentioned in this paper, como leis, decretos, manuais de operacao, e dados sobre escolas and sobre recursos financeiros that foram examinados com o uso de estatistica descritiva for o periodo
Abstract: Politicas de accountability educacional tem sido adotadas no mundo inteiro, baseadas em processos de avaliacao, prestacao de contas e responsabilizacao. A eficiencia desses instrumentos ainda e questionada, sendo criticados seus efeitos sobre as escolas, com base em logicas gerenciais. Este artigo objetiva investigar o Premio Escola Nota Dez, uma iniciativa do Programa Alfabetizacao na Idade Certa (Paic), coordenado pelo governo estadual do Ceara. Essa politica concede incentivos financeiros as escolas municipais, alem de promover uma cooperacao entre escolas para repercutir praticas de gestao. A pesquisa, de natureza quantitativa e qualitativa, utilizou, como procedimentos metodologicos, analise dos documentos legais e normativos referentes ao Premio, como leis, decretos, manuais de operacao, e dados sobre escolas e sobre recursos financeiros que foram examinados com o uso de estatistica descritiva para o periodo 2008-2018. Os resultados mostram que o Premio limita o numero de escolas participantes, permite que uma mesma escola ganhe alternadas vezes e favorece os municipios com redes escolares pequenas. Caracteriza-se como uma politica de accountability high stake pelas regras estabelecidas para concessao aos beneficiarios, envolvendo recursos financeiros, e parece induzir expressivo reordenamento das redes escolares municipais, que reduziram a quantidade de escolas ofertantes dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR), and argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes.
Abstract: ABSTRACT The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous ‘field of judgment’ through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to stagnant or declining student outcomes. In this paper, we examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We draw on Foucault’s notion of panopticism and Ball’s influential writings on performativity to analyse interviews with 21 educators from 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, conducted during a 2014–2015 randomised controlled trial. Participants highlighted the pervasiveness of testing and test results in shaping their experience of teaching in a system of perpetual surveillance where numbers bite deep into practice. By contrast, participation in QTR afforded teachers rare spaces of freedom within the structure of performativity to collaboratively focus on pedagogy. We argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes.
2 citations
TL;DR: This article used directed qualitative content analysis to examine 15 teacher evaluation rubrics or standards and found that many evaluation systems were narrowly focused on the procedural aspects of teaching and teacher engagement with families was too often viewed merely as a mechanism to yield academic gains and meet legal requirements.
Abstract: Federal legislation in the United States granted states freedom to alter formerly test-based teacher evaluation systems and situate family engagement as a key component in school improvement efforts. Concurrently, theorizing on family engagement has moved away from deficit characterizations and school-based involvement to an asset-based approach focused on equitable stakeholder collaborations committed to driving systemic change. Seeking to understand how states are characterizing exemplary teaching in terms of family and community engagement, the current study uses directed qualitative content analysis to examine 15 teacher evaluation rubrics or standards. The findings indicate that many evaluation systems were narrowly focused on the procedural aspects of teaching and teacher engagement with families was too often viewed merely as a mechanism to yield academic gains and meet legal requirements. The rubrics that explicitly stated that teachers should be culturally responsive provided a semblance of hope for pushing evaluative practices through the engagement barrier and into a space of collaboration that departs from dominant school-based approaches. These results have implications for the design of teacher evaluation policy and the furthering of equity-centered partnerships with families and communities.
1 citations