Deck 10: Teaching in a Public Institution: The Professionalization Movement

Question 1

Explain how the current management structure of American public schools contributes to teacher dissatisfaction. How might this situation be improved?

Answer 1

No answer

Question 2

Some educational theorists have argued that teaching is not a profession and that making it a profession will solve many of the problems within American public schools. First, critically examine the idea of what a profession is from your perspective. Then, consider how the National Labor Relations Act defined a professional. Discuss why you think teaching is, or is not, a profession. Support your position with examples and reasoned argument. Why do you believe this notion is so controversial?

Answer 2

No answer

Question 3

It is clear from looking at our classrooms, administrative structures, and teacher and administrator preparation programs that the teaching force is predominantly female, while the administrative ranks are largely male. In your view, how does gender factor in to understanding teacher autonomy, teacher rewards, public support for schooling, and other dimensions that might have a bearing on the effectiveness of schools? Support your position with examples and reasoned argument.

Answer 3

No answer

Question 4

An important commonality underlying the teacher professionalization movements of Horace Mann's time and today is

A) the need to raise teachers' salaries.
B) the desire to make teaching as prestigious as law or medicine.
C) the intention to improve schooling.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 5

The fact that public schools are justified partly on the basis of democratic ideals implies that

A) teachers' professional ethics are well defined by the U.S. Constitution.
B) teachers need to vote regularly to serve as good moral exemplars.
C) teachers do not need to conduct their personal lives in ways that reflect the moral values of their community as long as they present a good public image.
D) teachers need a deeper understanding of democracy and ethical commitment than some other professions.

Question 6

Which of the following is true of teacher salaries in the United States?

A) From 1992 to 2017, teacher salaries have increased from 2 percent to 19 percent more than those of comparable professionals with similar education.
B) Discrepancies among average teacher salaries within a state are typically lower than those between states or regions.
C) The fact that there is no national policy on teacher salaries accounts for the wide discrepancies even in the same region.
D) The fact that teacher salaries are nationally funded is part of the nation's historical commitment to national-level control of education.

Question 7

The authors appear to believe that

A) there is reason to be skeptical about professionalization as the cure for what ails public schooling.
B) teacher pay seems to be unrelated to teacher status in a materialistic society.
C) teacher shortages justify alternative routes to teacher certification.
D) female-dominated occupations tend to enjoy higher status than male occupations that require comparable skills and training.

Question 8

Horace Mann's normal schools helped

A) pull together a specialized body of teaching knowledge.
B) make teaching a more female-occupied profession.
C) standardize the quality and content of schooling.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 9

Which of the following legislations provides large amounts of funding to schools directed at improving the education of students whose education is limited by poverty?

A) The Every Child Succeeds Act of 2015
B) The Educate America Act of 2000
C) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
D) The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Question 10

The authors are holding open the possibility that an analysis of teaching

A) need not assume that professionalization is a necessary approach to improving the quality of teaching and schooling.
B) should offer a route to professionalization that is gender neutral because gender is irrelevant to the quality of teaching.
C) should recognize that women are distinctively well suited for teaching because of their nurturing dispositions.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

When considering the criteria that make any occupation a profession, one should remember that

A) medicine and law are the only true professions by which other professions should be judged.
B) there is no definitive set of characteristics that fits all professions.
C) the most important criterion for any profession is whether other professions regard it as worthy of professional status.
D) it does little good to call something a profession if the salaries are lower than blue-collar salaries.

Question 12

Fundamental decisions affecting the conditions of teaching are made primarily by

A) various agencies and institutions.
B) teachers and teachers' unions.
C) state governments.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 13

The authors would agree that

A) the historical feminization of teaching may be a strength rather than a weakness in the effort to improve schooling.
B) the historical feminization of teaching may be a long-term obstacle to equalizing status and rewards between teaching and other professions.
C) a crucial goal for teachers should be professional autonomy in the context of professional responsibility to many constituencies.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 14

Teacher professionalization in the common school era resembled today's professionalization movement because it

A) sought to improve student learning in public schools.
B) attempted to use professional standards to improve teaching quality.
C) sought to improve the education of teachers.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 15

Dee Ann Spencer's assessment of teaching as a quasi-profession

A) contradicts Goodlad's assessment of teaching.
B) recognizes the issue of gender as significant to professional status.
C) contradicts the Carnegie Forum's satisfaction with the teaching profession.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 16

According to the guidelines set by No Child Left Behind, good teaching is

A) measured by good test scores.
B) determined locally by schools and their governing structures.
C) encouraging for teacher-generated assessment.
D) derived from autonomy in the classroom.

Question 17

The report released by the National Commission for Teaching and America's Future in 1996

A) recommended support and rewards for teachers who chose the classroom over administration.
B) linked the conditions of teaching to the outcome of teaching.
C) suggested incorporating the distinct knowledge and skills of the teaching profession into the governance of teaching.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 18

Ideological hegemony theorists claim that

A) schooling encourages the serious treatment of important social issues such as racism, sexism, and the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of few.
B) schooling shuns hegemony by educating students to raise questions or develop interpretations that challenge the dominant ideology.
C) because one ideology dominates in a given modern technological society, all members of that society, in all social classes, share that ideology to a similar degree.
D) one ideological view is promoted by dominant institutions to the exclusion of alternative views that might otherwise be formed.

Question 19

The authors appear to believe that a central reason for low pay in teaching is the

A) cost of living being different in the different states.
B) influence of gender-based pay existing in other occupations.
C) poor preparation of teachers in institutions of higher education.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 20

By the middle of the 20th century, aspiring teachers had to undergo a four-year degree program to qualify as teachers instead of the earlier practice of pursuing two-year schooling. This professional requirement

A) promised to increase autonomy in classrooms for teachers.
B) ensured that the salaries of teachers would be similar to those of other professions.
C) did not result in an increase in teacher autonomy in schools.
D) resulted in uniform learning outcomes for all students in a classroom.

Question 21

James B. Conant's recommendations on how to professionalize teaching

A) aimed to create greater autonomy for teachers.
B) emphasized a teacher's right to determine his or her own professional tasks.
C) did not include any models on how to train teachers.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 22

Herbst's distinction between teacher professionalization and teacher professionalism is focused primarily on

A) professional autonomy versus work that is managed by others.
B) the process of becoming a professional as opposed to already being one.
C) the difference between being called a professional and being paid like one.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 23

The No Child Left Behind Act

A) outlines sanctions for schools with low test scores.
B) places the responsibility for low student performance on the teacher.
C) presents learning goals that emphasize training rather than critical thinking.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 24

In Tomorrow's Teachers, the Holmes Group sought to

A) reject comparisons among teaching and medicine and law.
B) reject a professionalization model for teaching.
C) improve the education of teachers to improve teaching.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 25

Efforts at centralizing the control of teaching standards were characteristic of

A) Horace Mann's common school movement.
B) the Holmes Group's Tomorrow's Teachers.
C) the Carnegie Forum's Task Force on Teaching as a Profession.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 26

The dominant ideology of a society is recognized because it

A) is supported by the dominant social institutions.
B) justifies the prevailing social order.
C) explains the social order in terms of the values and beliefs of the dominant social class.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 27

Alternative Routes to Teaching Certification (ARTC) are a(n) _____ response to the needs of schools.

A) modern liberal
B) classical
C) neoliberal
D) ultraconservative

Question 28

Geraldine Clifford claims that teaching is an underpaid profession

A) as a result of 20th-century industrialization.
B) largely because teaching is a "feminine" profession.
C) in part because of the low social status of children.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 29

Professional learning communities

A) allow teachers to collaborate for the benefit of the learning needs of students.
B) seek to return to the privatized practice of teaching characterized by one-room school houses.
C) try to reorganize the work of teaching into teams, as exemplified by union organizations.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 30

John Goodlad believes teaching is a "weak" profession mostly because

A) its status and prestige do not compare well to those of other professions.
B) the professional knowledge base in teaching is inadequate.
C) the nature of work of teaching is not predominantly intellectual.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 31

Two major sources of the federal government's influence on public schooling include

A) federally funded programs and Supreme Court decisions.
B) U.S. income taxes and the national lottery system, which have produced major funding for educational programs.
C) the power of Congress to generate new taxes for education and the power of the president to mandate new educational programs.
D) Supreme Court decisions and the funding influence of philanthropic foundations.

Question 32

Those who support alternative methods to teaching certification are considered

A) professionalists.
B) deregulators.
C) modern liberals.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 33

Teacher salaries

A) are federally funded.
B) are subject to federal statutory control.
C) are state and locally funded.
D) depend on yearly reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

Question 34

While the federal and state governments both create laws to govern public schooling,

A) Supreme Court decisions have been the primary government influence on school practices and policy.
B) the federal government has the greater impact because it controls more financial resources.
C) state governments have not historically been very active in school legislation.
D) the Constitution leaves most power over schooling to state governments.

Question 35

Although teaching does not seem to compare well with other professions in terms of status, material rewards, or a codified body of specialized knowledge, it may still qualify as a profession because

A) it embodies a moral vision and commitment to ethical standards.
B) at least teachers have professional autonomy.
C) it attracts college students who are academically stronger than most other college students.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 36

The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers

A) share a focus on teacher welfare and educational improvement.
B) believe teacher strikes are the best way to influence policy.
C) are likely to merge into one super-union.
D) All of these answers are correct.