The Study
When school districts promote new accountability policies, what is the impact on teachers and their teaching practices? Assistant Professor Dorothea Anagnostopoulos conducted this study with that question in mind. Her research focused on English teachers in two Chicago high schools and how they were affected by changing district policies that sought to decrease student failure and dropout rates and increase standardized test scores.

The Findings
Educational accountability brings a sense of urgency to the problem of school failure, particularly in urban high schools. A key goal of accountability policies is to ensure that all students master core academic content. Achieving this goal requires teachers in urban high schools to alter their practices in ways that enable them to remedy the learning difficulties that contribute to student failure. This study identified several possible consequences of teachers’ responses to accountability policies and student failure in urban high schools. Through the analyses of interview and classroom observation data, Anagnostopoulos found that teachers’ responses to district policies related to the degree to which teachers perceived the policies as threats to their professional autonomy. Teachers responded to testing policies by allocating significant classroom time to “teaching to the tests” but employed several defensive strategies in response to policies aimed at lowering course failure rates. These strategies may have reduced failure rates but did not remedy student failure. Anagnostopoulos noted that as new accountability tactics continue to dominate educational policy, educators need to understand how and why some teachers in urban high schools eschew disengaging practices. A handful of teachers in this study accepted responsibility for their students’ academic failure, and developed instructional practices aimed at addressing students’ learning problems. “We need to know more about how these teachers have developed and maintained these practices,“ she concluded, “how they can serve as models for their colleagues, and what policies will best support their leadership.”

What It Means to You
How are teachers held accountable for student failure in your district? Have educators felt more pressure to produce better test scores and lower dropout rates? Do favorable results in your district mean students are learning more, or that teachers are modifying their standards and lessons to keep pace with expectations?

For More Information
Anagnostopoulos, D. (2003). “The New Accountability, Student Failure and Teachers’ Work in Urban High Schools.” Educational Policy (17)3, 291-316.

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