SLO Death

Every spring for the last few years, the Solipsist's college has held a Staff Appreciation Day. The administration springs for food. A couple of the faculty members barbeque. Offices close early. And the Solipsist karaokes--whether people want him to or not.

This year, due to budget cuts and an increasing workload, the college had to cancel the formal Staff Appreciation Day. Instead, the administration provided a luncheon for the staff, served by the managers. A nice gesture, to be sure, but somewhat dampened by the fact that this week layoffs were announced. Suffice to say, we found something mildly ironic in the idea of an event expressing appreciation for the staff who have just been informed of their dismissal. Mildly ironic and majorly depressing.

One of our colleagues published an article in the faculty association's newsletter about the increasing demand for "accountability" on the part of community-college (and other) educators. Teachers must be accountable! Staff must be accountable! Administration must be accountable! Students must succeed, and those responsible for their success must provide evidence that they are, in fact, succeeding.

If this sounds reasonable to you, we understand. Certainly the public has a right to know how tax dollars are spent, and, indeed, community-college faculty should be held accountable for doing that for which they have been hired. The problem, though, is that a great number of those who talk most about accountabiity seem to start from a position of doubt--an assumption that we are not doing our jobs. As a result, we faculty must constantly prove our worth. The current buzzworthy term in higher-education is "Student Learning Outcomes" (SLOs). It is not enough to give lectures, to design engaging, interactive classes, and to spend twice as many hours again prepping for classes and grading papers; it is not enough to hold office hours and other student conferences; it is not enough to attend departmental meetings and sit on numerous committees. We must also provide data-based proof that all of this is effective. This means more number-crunching, more meetings, more reports. More work for everybody.

But go back to that luncheon we discussed earlier, the one at which all those soon-to-be-laid-off employees were feted. While faculty must provide ever-more evidence that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing, the numbers of those who support the mission of the college--and by extension the teachers--are diminishing. Those who are left must pick up ever more of the slack. And all the while, teachers must take more time away from teaching in order to fill out reports to prove that they are teaching.

We're stuck in a vicious circle--one that's located around a drain.