Constrained Professionalism: Dilemmas of Teaching in the Face of Test-based Accountability
Associate Professor Judith Sandholtz has published her recent research findings about teaching dilemmas and teacher response in Teachers College Record: "Constrained professionalism: Dilemmas of teaching in the face of test-based accountability."
Abstract:
In
response to test-based accountability, school administrators
increasingly view centralized curriculum and prescribed instructional
strategies as the most direct means of increasing student performance.
Their movement toward standardization reduces teachers’ autonomy and
control over classroom practices. This case study investigates the
classroom instruction of an experienced teacher in an elementary school
where the principal supported teachers’ autonomy and authority over
curriculum and instruction. Examining the teacher’s instructional
practice in social studies, a subject not included in state testing, we
demonstrate how specific teaching dilemmas that arose in response to
state testing led to a new type of professionalism that we call
constrained professionalism.
Wills, J., & Sandholtz,
J.H. (2009). Constrained professionalism: Dilemmas of teaching in the
face of test-based accountability. Teachers College Record, 111(4), 1065-1114.
