Teacher Expertise, Democracy, and "Rational" Observational Systems for Teacher Evaluation and Accountability

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: The Many Faces of Accountability in Schools

Abstract

There is something incalculable about teacher expertise. We question whether it can be observed, detected, quantified, and as per current educational policies, used as an accountability tool to hold America’s public school teachers accountable for that which they do (or do not do) well. In this paper, we argue that rubric-based teacher observational systems, developed to assess the extent to which teachers adapt and follow sets of rubric-based rules, might actually constrain teacher expertise. Moreover, we frame our findings using the Dreyfus Model (1980, 1986) to illustrate how observational systems, and the rational conceptions on which they are based, might be stifling educational progress and reform. Implications for more democratic alternatives are also discussed.

Authors

• Anna Montana Cirell, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Arizona State University

• Jessica Holloway-Libell, Kansas State University

• Kathryn Patricia Chapman, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Alice Hays, Arizona State University - Tempe