Dispositions and teacher assessment: The need for a more rigorous definition

Damon, W. (2007). Dispositions and teacher assessment: The need for a more rigorous definition. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(5), 365-369.

This brief article delineates some of the issues surrounding NCATE's revision of its standards to include teacher dispositions. Damon's main point is that there is as yet no consensus on an operational definition of "dispositions," which makes the construct difficult to assess. This leaves the door open for abuses that may verge upon "mind control" and indoctrination.

Damon states that both sides of the controversy at least agree that teachers need to believe that all children can learn, but I'm not so certain of that. That may be true in educational circles, but in the political world outside, which is trying to encroach upon education, there are conservative forces that deeply believe that some people are better than others, that certain groups' norms should define what all people should be, and that everyone has the same opportunity to "make good choices" (as they define them) and thus it's their own fault they didn't have the same privileges. No, I do not want people like that teaching children-the ones who focus on what's wrong with kids and who blame them, their families, and their cultures.