All in a Day’s Work: What’s Standing in the Way of Teacher Effectiveness?

A Common Good Report
October 16, 2006

All in a Day’s Work: What’s Standing in the Way of Teacher Effectiveness?

At the request of Common Good, eight New York City public school teachers volunteered to keep diaries of their workdays in order to illustrate how school bureaucracy impacts teaching.  The following report summarizes and excerpts those diaries.

As the report states, “In recent years, great strides have been made by the New York City  Department of Education to de-regulate the City’s public school system and provide greater autonomy and authority to school leaders ….  While these initiatives are encouraging, as our study indicates, more changes are needed to reduce the adverse effects of bureaucracy on the City’s public school teachers.”

This study is not representative of all teachers in New York City, nor was it designed to prove or disprove the validity or effectiveness of a particular policy, regulation, or law.  Its purpose is purely exploratory, meant to provide insights from the teachers’ experience, stimulate discussion, and encourage further study.

The teachers were assured that their anonymity would be protected and that only a summary of their writings, as well as selected excerpts, would be made public.

For additional information, please contact Sianne Garlick at Goodman Media – 212-576-2700 x230.

Click here to read the report.

In Sunday’s New York Times, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten devoted the UFT’s monthly opinion advertising space to a commentary on the Common Good report.  She argues that its results show, in part, that “we must respect the skill and commitment of our educators, providing them with the professional latitude they need to do their jobs, rather than drowning them in paperwork and micromanagement.” 

To access a PDF of the entire piece, click here.