Teacher Oral History Project is Launched!
by admin
United Opt Out National is launching a Teacher Oral History Project and we will serve as the national digital repository for the oral histories collected. Dr. Mark Naison, a Liberator for United Opt Out National, is the lead for this project. Mark Naison can be reached at mnaison@aol.com and naison@fordham.edu. Join the conversation on our Teacher Oral History Project Facebook Page athttps://www.facebook.com/groups/teacheroralhistoryproject/.
Teacher Oral History Project – The Rationale
By Mark Naison
By Mark Naison
Ever since the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001, America’s public school teachers have been subjected to an unprecedented, bi-partisan attempt to transform their work place environment and hold them accountable for the alleged failures of the nation’s public schools to produce greater equity and contribute to American global competitiveness. Under both the Bush and Obama Administrations, teachers have found their careers and their futures increasingly defined by student test scores, while their job rights and tenure protections have been steadily undermined by new policies at the state and federal level which require closing of failing schools and removal of teachers who consistently rate low on new test driven evaluation systems. The atmosphere surrounding these policies has often been toxic, with the press and elected officials keeping up a steady drumbeat of chatter on the dangers posed by “ bad teachers,” and with budget conscious officials denouncing teachers as pampered and overpaid. Alternative certification programs like Teach for America have added to the
