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Get Out of the Way! Deidre McFadyen
New York Teacher, November 2, 2006 What is standing in the way of teacher effectiveness? That’s the question that the bipartisan advocacy organization Common Good set out to answer when it asked eight New York City teachers to keep a detailed diary of their work life for two weeks.
The summary report, “All in a Day’s Work,” which is rich in anecdotal detail, illuminates how bureaucracy and over-regulation are interfering with teachers’ ability to do their jobs. It found that student discipline, assessments and testing, mandated teaching procedures, school management and paperwork are encroaching on the school day and pulling teachers away from their core mission of helping students learn.
Four of the teachers, along with two education scholars and UFT President Randi Weingarten, gathered at the Harvard Club on Oct. 10 to discuss the report’s findings in a dialogue with about 100 teachers, professors and education policy-makers.
“If we are serious about improving America’s schools, we need to listen carefully to what teachers are telling us,” said Weingarten, who devoted her monthly column, “What Matters Most,” in The New York Times on Oct. 15 to the Common Good report’s insights. [It is reprinted in this issue of New York Teacher on page 19.] “We must respect the skill and commitment of our educators by providing them with the professional latitude they need to do their jobs, rather than drowning them in paperwork and micromanagement.”
Click here for the full article.
Click here for the Common Good "All in a Day's Work" report.
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