Transforming Teaching: Connecting Professional Responsibility with Student Learning

Posted by on December 19, 2011

Recommended: sea change

A report from the NEA’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching calls for “systemic changes in the [nation’s] educational structures by engaging teachers in the decision-making processes that impact student learning.” The report urges “moving from a top-down hierarchical model to a circular structure of shared responsibility” that will “engage students as active participants in their own learning.” To place student learning at the center, schooling must transform from a time-oriented system based on grade level and credits earned to a performance-based system aligned to national learning standards. Student learning must be at the center of decisions about instructional models, scheduling, school structure, and flexibility. To set student-learning goals and assess outcomes, teachers must work in collaborative teams and use professional judgment based on teaching standards and practice. At the same time, teachers must have authority to make instructional and educational management choices and decisions. Teachers must also share in the responsibility for teacher selection, evaluation, and dismissal. In sum, the teaching profession requires transformational changes in recruitment, selection, preparation, professional learning, evaluation, compensation, and career advancement.

See the report: http://www.nea.org/home/49981.htm