Fostering the Sense of Caring Among Teachers in the Era of Teacher Accountability

Presenter Information

Chang PuFollow

Location

Moody

Proposal Track

Research Project

Session Format

Presentation

Abstract

This presentation reports an ethnographic case study which investigates how two “at-risk” Latino students beat the odds: successfully graduated from their high school and were admitted to a competitive college with highly competitive national scholarships. Framed by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory, the study analyzes how ecological systems influenced academic outcomes of the participants, and interactions between their development and the multiple environments in which it occurred. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews (i.e., participants, their teachers, parents, work place mentors), scholarship essays written by participants, and field notes from site visits (i.e., home, school, community). It analyzes how a public school system in Georgia, influenced by current political and educational policies, has learned to accommodate the demographic change, as well as the roles that schools and teachers play in helping disadvantaged immigrant students succeed academically and promoting educational equity. Critically, the findings also raise questions towards current Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) implemented in Georgia. This presentation argues that TKES mainly evaluates teachers’ skills and knowledge in teaching; however, professional dispositions towards teaching, which shaped interactions between the participants and their teachers, are overlooked by the system.

Keywords

Latino Student Achievement, TKES, Case Study

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Oct 7th, 9:00 AM Oct 7th, 10:15 AM

Fostering the Sense of Caring Among Teachers in the Era of Teacher Accountability

Moody

This presentation reports an ethnographic case study which investigates how two “at-risk” Latino students beat the odds: successfully graduated from their high school and were admitted to a competitive college with highly competitive national scholarships. Framed by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory, the study analyzes how ecological systems influenced academic outcomes of the participants, and interactions between their development and the multiple environments in which it occurred. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews (i.e., participants, their teachers, parents, work place mentors), scholarship essays written by participants, and field notes from site visits (i.e., home, school, community). It analyzes how a public school system in Georgia, influenced by current political and educational policies, has learned to accommodate the demographic change, as well as the roles that schools and teachers play in helping disadvantaged immigrant students succeed academically and promoting educational equity. Critically, the findings also raise questions towards current Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) implemented in Georgia. This presentation argues that TKES mainly evaluates teachers’ skills and knowledge in teaching; however, professional dispositions towards teaching, which shaped interactions between the participants and their teachers, are overlooked by the system.