ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, there has been a group of educators and researchers who have argued that the key to being a good teacher lies in the decisions that teachers make:
Any teaching act is the result of a decision, whether conscious or unconscious, that the teacher makes after the complex cognitive processing of available information. This reasoning leads to the hypothesis that the basic teaching skill is decision making. (Shavelson, 1973, p. 18); (emphasis added)
In addition to emphasizing the importance of decision making, Shavelson made a critically important point. Namely teachers make their decisions “after the complex cognitive processing of available information.” Thus, there is an essential link between available information and decision making. Using the terminology of educational researchers, information is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for good decision making. In other words, without information, good decisions are difficult. Yet simply having the information does not mean that good decisions are made. As Bussis, Chittenden, and Amarel (1976) noted:
Decision-making is invariably a subjective, human activity involving value judgments…placed on whatever evidence is available…. Even when there is virtual consensus of the “facts of the matter,” such facts do not automatically lead to decisions regarding future action. People render decisions; information does not. (p. 19)
As we see throughout this book, teachers have many sources of information they can use in making decisions. Some are better than others, but all are typically considered at some point in time. The critical issue facing teachers, then, is what information to use and how to use it to make the best decisions possible in the time available. Time is important because many decisions need to be made before we have all the information we would like to have.
