This post is not to discuss the merits of the any state’s accountability system.  It’s easy to throw stones at system designed primarily by pandering amateurs.  Instead, this post is to remind us that accountability has changed the profession, for the better.  Here is just one of many examples. 

When I started teaching (pre-accountability) my department chair explained that if I failed too many students in my math classes, I would be considered a bad teacher.  Makes senses.

My department chair (a respected, “good” teacher) also explained if I didn’t fail enough students in my math classes, I would be considered “too easy,” another category of bad teachers. 

Which means when I began my career as a teacher, there was an acceptable failure rate. An actual group of students that I was expected to leave behind.

Today, I wouldn’t hire a teacher walking into a classroom with that expectation. There is no acceptable failure rate and we know that because accountability forced us to adapt to a new and better instructional reality in our classrooms.

And that’s a good thing.

Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…

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