Teachers and Teacher Educators in Distress: Dispatches From New York and Iowa

• In Event: Demoralization and Schizophrenia: What Lives Should Teacher Education Prepare Candidates For?

Abstract

Heightened accountability measures associated with state and federal policies regarding teaching and teacher education have produced a sense of a field under siege. Privatization efforts and corporate philanthropy work hand-in-glove with governmental agencies to reshape the landscape of educational power and authority by disrupting traditional forms of teaching and teacher preparation. How should teacher educators respond to these realities in creating hope and resilience in future teachers who must also be prepared for the realities of contemporary schooling?

Studies indicate that accountability measures have contributed to widespread distress within the profession, the manifestations of which include strained relationships from intensified performance demands (Valli & Buese, 2007), exiting urban schools (Crocco & Costigan 2007), and dropping out (Santoro, 2011). In 2012, the Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher reported that teacher morale hit a 25-year low.

This paper provides a portrait of teachers’ lives and the dilemmas facing teacher education in two states, New York and Iowa, based on analysis of contemporary policy documents, teacher education program descriptions, news accounts, formal teacher/teacher educator interviews (in New York), and informal teacher/teacher educator conversations (in Iowa).

Traditionally prepared teachers struggle to maintain self-respect, especially in light of the private and public support given to Teach for America and charter schools. Nevertheless, differing policy contexts produce different strains. The 2010 award of Race to the Top (RTT) funding exacerbated teacher dissatisfaction in New York. Protracted battles over teacher evaluation then threatened RTT funding. The state also began allowing teacher certification outside colleges of education. In Iowa in 2011, Director of Education Glass introduced his blueprint, “One Unshakable Vision: World Class Schools for Iowa,” whose message was read as: Teachers are to blame for slippage in Iowa’s schools. Subsequent efforts to pass legislation based on the blueprint were largely successful—and demoralizing.

In 2013, the National Council on Teaching Quality’s report card brought fresh critiques of teacher education. Despite criticisms of its methodology, the results were seen as a judgment on the field. Concomitantly, the new accreditation agency, CAEP, demanded stricter regulation of teacher education and hinted at closure of institutions to fix the profession.

Although the two states’ circumstances produce different discourses, both contexts provide evidence of demoralization. Teacher education appears caught between forces advancing greater professionalization through regulation (e.g., CAEP) and those seemingly bent on de-professionalization (e.g., TFA); teaching, too, faces almost daily assaults on its dignity. This paper considers how to create hope and resilience in both teachers and teacher educators in the face of such challenges.

Author

• Margaret S. Crocco, Michigan State University