Christopher Barnes, Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute
September 2002
NAEP results, combined with state tests, give us a pretty good idea how well (or poorly) our students and schools are performing. But how well, and precisely what, are our teachers teaching? To find out, the Manhattan Institute commissioned the University of Connecticut's Center for Survey Research and Analysis to survey a national sample of fourth and eighth grade teachers. Teachers of those grades - chosen both because they are two grades for which we have NAEP data and because they mark the end of "primary" and "middle" schooling - were asked about their "teaching philosophies, their classroom teaching methods and practices, their academic expectations for their students, and their opinions on other issues of education policy." The results are both fascinating and alarming. In the report's foreword, our own (and formerly Manhattan's own) Chester Finn highlights five findings that are "particularly vexing because of the chasm they display between the views of teachers and the expectations of [standards-based] reformers": "First, a majority of teachers in both fourth and eighth grade opt for 'student-directed learning' rather than 'teacher-directed learning.' & Second, three quarters of teachers have embraced the college-of-education dogma that the purpose of schooling is to help youngsters "learn how to learn" rather than to acquire specific information and skills. & Third, not even two out of five teachers in fourth grade base their students' grades primarily on a "single, class-wide standard," while the majority place heavier emphasis on individual children's abilities. & Fourth, teachers do not seem to have terribly high expectations for their pupils when it comes to how much and how well they will end up learning. & Finally, and most bluntly, one third of fourth grade teachers and 30 percent of eight grade teachers do not agree that 'a teacher's role is primarily to help students learn the things that your state or community has decided students should know.'" Given that No Child Left Behind is now the law of the land, all who have a stake in its implementation will want to read this report to gain a better understanding of the challenges ahead in getting teachers (and ed schools) to buy into standards-based reform. You'll find this report on the web at http://www.manhattan-institute.org/cr_28.pdf.
