Governing Well: The Teacher's Perspective

By Adam Urbanski

It will take a lot to make public schools more effective for all students: greater academic rigor, higher standards of conduct, more parental involvement, meaningful professional development for teachers, stronger incentives for the students themselves, and, of course, more access to health and social services for the many students who are in need of such. To that list, we must add two critical factors that matter a lot: creating more responsive school governance structures; and expanding teachers' capacity to have more professional discretion over their own practice.

What matters most in education is what happens between the student and the teacher. Yet, teachers are least empowered to make decisions about teaching and learning. Saddled with "adminstrivia" and remote-control mandates, teachers all too often have to engage in creative insubordination to do right by their students. Is it any wonder then that so many teachers lament that they love to teach but hate their jobs?

That is why school governance matters too. It can either enhance or impede teaching and learning. There is a growing realization that how we organize and govern our schools can be pivotal to our ability to make all...