In the 1990s, Celine Coggins worked as a special assistant to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education. It was her first job after teaching, and she was optimistic that she would be able to influence policy by sharing her hands-on classroom experience with policymakers and helping them understand how their actions influenced real teachers in real classrooms.She soon learned, however, that policy is created on an invisible playing field, one that most educators don't even see. Her task was not to help legislators understand her job as a teacher, but to help them to do their job—promoting equity, allocating scarce resources, and addressing accountability issues. In this article, she describes the pressures policymakers face and the questions that most concern them. Understanding these pressures, she writes, will enable teachers to respond to policymakers' concerns and effectively advocate for education improvements—specifically, for expanded support for teacher leadership.Part of a theme issue on "How to Be a Change Agent."

What It Takes to Get a Policymaker's Attention

Celine Coggins

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Teacher leadership

School improvement and reform

Education policy

For students in U.S. classrooms today, the odds of being assigned to an inexperienced teacher are higher than they have ever been because so many teachers, some in the top 20 percent of effectiveness are leaving the classroom in their first five years. Coggins and Diffenbaugh turn to Daniel Pink's work on drive to determine how to motivate teachers to grow within the profession. Pink's theory of motivation is built around three themes that can apply to teachers todayMastery. Teachers need an agreed-upon standard of excellence that applies across the profession and feedback that helps them achieve that standard. Today, expectations for performance often vary from district to district, and observations are too infrequent to be useful.Purpose. Teachers need structures that enable them to pursue their interest in social justice and education policy. Teachers who wish to have an influence beyond their classroom often feel they must leave the classroom to broaden their influence.Autonomy. Teachers need flexibility in how they choose to meet the goals of their school or district. This does not mean being left alone to do as they please, but it does mean not treating them as pawns to be controlled.

Teachers with Drive

Teacher engagement and motivation

Principal effectiveness and evaluation

School and district management

Young teacher applicants to the Teach Plus Policy Fellows Program indicate that contrary to the opinions of those who believe they are in teaching only for the short term, they actually want to find a way to continue teaching. Their description of the profession they seek—one that makes a difference, challenges them, engages them as leaders, and promotes social justice—provides clear indications about how school leaders can engage this generation of teachers more intentionally and keep them in the field. However, administrators need to look at some damaging assumptions—about why people teach, where they will teach, and how long they will teach—because they exacerbate high attrition and undermine our potential to improve the retention and distribution of strong teachers in urban areas.

Celine Coggins

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Articles by Celine

What It Takes to Get a Policymaker's Attention

Teachers with Drive

Holding on to Gen Y

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