Who Controls Teachers' Work?: Power and Accountability in America's Schools by Richard M. Ingersoll

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Synopsis

Schools are places of learning but they are also workplaces, and teachers are employees. As such, are teachers more akin to professionals or to factory workers in the amount of control they have over their work? And what difference does it make?

Drawing on large national surveys as well as wide-ranging interviews with high school teachers and administrators, Richard Ingersoll reveals the shortcomings in the two opposing viewpoints that dominate thought on this subject: that schools are too decentralized and lack adequate control and accountability; and that schools are too centralized, giving teachers too little autonomy. Both views, he shows, overlook one of the most important parts of teachers' work: schools are not simply organizations engineered to deliver academic instruction to students, as measured by test scores; schools and teachers also play a large part in the social and behavioral development of our children. As a result, both views overlook the power of implicit social controls in schools that are virtually invisible to outsiders but keenly felt by insiders. Given these blind spots, this book demonstrates that reforms from either camp begin with inaccurate premises about how schools work and so are bound not only to fail, but to exacerbate the problems they propose to solve.

Library Journal

Advocates of school reform often decry an alleged lack of teacher accountability. Some critics propose more centralized control of teachers by administrative or governmental entities; others believe that schools need to be decentralized, with more local input from parents and community members. Ingersoll (sociology & education, Univ. of Pennsylvania) refutes both these views, using results from national surveys and his own field research. His data show that teachers already have too little say in key social aspects of school life, including disciplinary procedures and student tracking. It only makes sense, he argues, to give teachers more, not less, control over the areas for which they are held accountable. A teacher-turned-sociologist, Ingersoll contends that only those who work in a school can grasp the nuances of its organizational structure; outsiders, be they parents, bureaucrats, or politicians, should not dictate the distribution of power. While he makes a good case for increasing teacher involvement, his obvious sympathy for the teachers' point of view may undermine his credibility with those who see teachers as convenient scapegoats in the school-reform debate. Recommended for academic libraries.-Susan M. Colowick, North Olympic Lib. Syst., Port Angeles, WA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Biography

Richard M. Ingersoll is Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.