I really have a hard time blaming teachers for anything. We (America) seem to expect them to perform miracles. We are not their "customers", public eduction is not a business, but we insist on treating it like one. We get what we deserve.
1. the parents
2. the students
3. the administration
4. not enough pay
5. not enough technology in the classroom
6. the tests
The answer is to give a bonus to teachers depending on their students meeting the grade level academic standards. I've proposed this many times, and the pushback on it is fierce.
I know many teachers who absolutely crow about the total lack of metrics or accountability. They absolutely love it.
As a result, good teachers aren’t recognized, and bad ones proliferate.
I’d suggest that pre-Covid teachers unions worked to communicate how essential and valuable they were to society, but during the pandemic the unions strangely shifted gears and devalued their members work by basically arguing that the teaching profession was less important then a grocery bagger.
Essential workers showed up during the pandemic and did yeoman’s work. Teachers unions argued that they didn’t need to show up to educate our children and failed miserably.
Ironically the union’s stupidity by pursuing school closures and remote school illustrated how truly valuable teacher’s are, but destroyed their reputations at the same time.