Getting Beyond the Blame Game

James Harvey

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The teaching profession in the United States is under assault. A regimen of reforms threatens educators with sanctions under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Pay-for-performance measures are a slap in the face, implying that teachers need financial carrots dangled in front of them to ensure they work hard. And there's also the public shaming of teachers by public officials and newspapers on both the East and West coasts. It's no wonder that enrollment in teacher preparation programs is down and that teacher satisfaction is the lowest in 25 years. Author James Harvey, executive director of the National Superintendents Roundtable, suggests that we stop using teachers as scapegoats for education failures grounded in larger social shortcomings and look to more productive ways of improving the system.