Who are these for? Is this for the teacher? - Understandings of Expertise and Evaluation in the Era of ESSA

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

The article examines how US teacher expertise has been reshaped over the past four decades through “narrowing” and “numericizing” pressures tied to high-stakes accountability and neoliberal education reforms. Building on prior study under NCLB and Race to the Top, it shifts attention to the ESSA era, noting its pivot away from earlier accountability practices. Using Jessica Holloway’s risk-management technologies, the study analyzes how assessment and evaluation tools construct expertise understandings in a school district that did not adopt the most stringent measures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 31 Number 55 May 16, 2023 ISSN 1068-2341 | | “Who are these for? Is this for the teacher?”: Understandings of Expertise and Evaluation in the Era ofESSA Madeline W. Good University of Missouri-Columbia United States Citation: Good, M. W. (2023) .“Who are these for? Is this for the teacher?”: Understandings of expertise and evaluation in the era of ESSA. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31(55) . [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7807](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7807) Abstract: Understandings of teacher expertise in the US have transformed over the past 40 years, arguably being “narrowed” and “numericized” due to high-stakes accountability and neoliberal education reform movements. While this trend has been thoroughly studied under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and Race to the Top regimes, less consideration has been given since the Every Study Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaced NCLB in 2015, which notably pivoted away from some of the most stringent accountability practices of the previous era. This paper begins a newline of inquiry into teacher expertise in our current federal policy context, especially considering how understandings of expertise are constructed in school districts that never adopted the most high-stakes evaluation measures. By relying on Jessica Holloway’s (2021) technologies of risk management, this paper explores how teachers in one school understand expertise, focusing specifically on how evaluation and assessment technologies engage with and influence these understandings. Ultimately, it was found that teachers in fact held a plurality of understandings, yet complex and sometimes conflicting influences of assessment and evaluation practices also emerged. This paper argues that although risk management technologies have become commonplace, scholars and practitioners alike should continue to scrutinize their use under ESSA, particularly considering how they are being used, who they primarily benefit, and what consequences come from our reliance upon them. Keywords: teacher expertise; teacher evaluation; accountability; supervision; Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) “¿Para quién son estos? ¿Es esto para el maestro?”: Comprensión de la experiencia y la evaluación en la era de ESSA Resumen: La comprensión de la experiencia docente en los EE.UU. se ha transformado en los últimos 40 años, posiblemente siendo “restringida” y “numerizada” debido a la rendiciónde cuentas de alto riesgo y los movimientos de reforma educativa neoliberal. Si bien estatendencia se ha estudiado minuciosamente en virtud de los regímenes de la No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) y Race to the Top, se le ha dado menos consideración desde que la Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)reemplazó a la Ley NCLB en 2015, que se alejó notablemente dealgunos de los regímenes más [estrictos. pr](estrictos. pr)ácticas de rendición de cuentas de la época anterior. Este documento inicia una nueva línea de investigación sobre la experiencia docente en nuestro contexto de política federal actual, especialmente considerando cómo se construye la comprensión de la experiencia en los distritos escolares que nunca adoptaron las medidas deevaluación más importantes. Al basarse en las tecnologías de gestión de riesgos de Jessica Holloway (2021), este documento explora cómo los maestros de una escuela entienden la experiencia, centrándose específicamente en cómo las tecnologías de evaluación y evaluaciónemergen e influyen en estos entendimientos. En última instancia, se encontró que los docentes de hecho tenían una pluralidad de comprensiones, pero también surgieron influenciascomplejas y, a veces, conflictivas de evaluación y prácticas de evaluación. Este documento argumenta que, aunque las tecnologías de gestión de riesgos se han vuelto comunes, tanto los académicos como los profe

FAQs

How has teacher expertise been transformed in the US over recent decades?

It has been “narrowed” and “numericized” under high-stakes accountability and neoliberal education reform movements.

What change does the paper highlight when moving from NCLB to ESSA?

ESSA replaced NCLB in 2015 and pivoted away from some of the most stringent accountability practices of the previous era.

What did the study find about teachers’ understandings of expertise?

Teachers held a plurality of understandings, while assessment and evaluation practices also produced complex and sometimes conflicting influences.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca