Teacher education and the outcomes trap

Cochran-Smith, Marilyn. (2005). Teacher education and the outcomes trap. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(5), 411-417.


This editorial protests the equating of "outcomes" with standardized tests. In this case, the issue is the use of children's test scores as the main evidence for the success of teacher education programs. This article attacks such an emphasis as merely wrong-headed. I am not sure that it is that benign.

I'm beginning to think that the emphasis on tests as equivalent to learning is a deliberate plot to destroy the middle class. The upper tier of society does not need a middle class; they need a cadre of compliant, unquestioning, lower-level workers to serve them and help enrich their coffers and do their "dirty work." The emphasis on testing creates curricula that train those sorts of workers. Teaching for social justice? Preparing citizens for democracy? That would just get in the way, just create people who would ask too many questions about the current "global economy." Keep 'em unquestioning and docile! Teachers have been the enemy, the ones who insisted on quality and care vs. speed and quantity. Teachers need to be stamped out!