I cannot believe that this would happen - that a state would suggest that teacher pay should be based on standardized test scored of students!! This goes against everything I believe as a teacher and as a parent. You cannot "judge" a teacher based on student intelligence, test performance and how well students are prepared for a standardized test. This completely promotes "teaching to a test" and will become a great disservice to the students.
I am already disgusted with my daughter's school, where they have been "practicing" for two weeks to take their TerraNova 2 test. I've never even heard of this test, but was disturbed that my daughter came home with the notion that 1) this was the most important test of her life, and 2) that they would be graded on this test and the grade would change all of her grades for the year. Neither of these things is true, but something must have been said to them for her to have come home with this conclusion. I quickly set her straight and NO, MOM, I did not even write a note!! What a complete waste of good instructional time, though, spending two whole weeks drilling for a standardized test. I thought this was no allowed??? How fair is it?
I hope that someone has the brains to pull the plug on Gov. Jeb Bush and his silly notion that somehow teachers who yield higher student test score are better than those who invest in the poorest of the poor, who teach for the love of teaching and who care about more than test scores, but a well-rounded education of a child. I hope they can find a better measure of a great teacher, because if this is all they use, it's the children who will suffer!
EDIT: I just had to add this after giving this subject more thought. Would you pay art teachers according the number of Rembrandts they turn out? Would you pay P.E. teachers by the number of professional athletes they send to professional sports teams? How would you measure the success of the librarian? By the number of published author's come from their library? And music teachers? Should we find the music teacher of every recording artist and give them a bonus?? Or, better yet, they only get the bonus if their recording artist has an album go platinum or record a song that makes the top ten! You can't measure the effectiveness of a teacher based on the intelligence and test-taking skills of their students - if you think you can, you know very little about education!
I am already disgusted with my daughter's school, where they have been "practicing" for two weeks to take their TerraNova 2 test. I've never even heard of this test, but was disturbed that my daughter came home with the notion that 1) this was the most important test of her life, and 2) that they would be graded on this test and the grade would change all of her grades for the year. Neither of these things is true, but something must have been said to them for her to have come home with this conclusion. I quickly set her straight and NO, MOM, I did not even write a note!! What a complete waste of good instructional time, though, spending two whole weeks drilling for a standardized test. I thought this was no allowed??? How fair is it?
I hope that someone has the brains to pull the plug on Gov. Jeb Bush and his silly notion that somehow teachers who yield higher student test score are better than those who invest in the poorest of the poor, who teach for the love of teaching and who care about more than test scores, but a well-rounded education of a child. I hope they can find a better measure of a great teacher, because if this is all they use, it's the children who will suffer!
EDIT: I just had to add this after giving this subject more thought. Would you pay art teachers according the number of Rembrandts they turn out? Would you pay P.E. teachers by the number of professional athletes they send to professional sports teams? How would you measure the success of the librarian? By the number of published author's come from their library? And music teachers? Should we find the music teacher of every recording artist and give them a bonus?? Or, better yet, they only get the bonus if their recording artist has an album go platinum or record a song that makes the top ten! You can't measure the effectiveness of a teacher based on the intelligence and test-taking skills of their students - if you think you can, you know very little about education!
4 comments:
I too thought the teacher's saleries based on test scores was way off base. Don't have any children in school any more but I want the ones growing up to be decent well taught people not based on a couple of tests which would happen if the teachers are paid just for good grades on those tests.
I agree with your statements, but I believe that a students intellegence is based on their behavior or their time spent on the subject. A teacher should be able to recognize students that appear struggling and give them the appropriate tutorial. Many students are having troubles speaking up in class and explaining to the teacher that they are having trouble. I, a current middle school debater, esspecially have problems standing up in front of a class and basically saying," I'm stupid." Students are afraid of embarassment. Also, students who misbehave or don't listen shouldn't be ignored by the teacher. Those students definently aren't getting the information they need in class, and need extra attention to keep them in-line. I believe an educator should be in control of their pupils and entertaining to keep a student interested. The state is simply trying to get the best teachers in our public school sytem. These students, including myself, are your future. We are what you are depending on for the future. We need our future leaders as intellegent and genuine as they come, and that starts in grade school.
I apologize for all spelling errors, I'm in hurry because the bell's about to ring.
No biggie on the spelling. Just want to address a couple of your points:
"a students intellegence is based on their behavior or their time spent on the subject." - Intelligence can't always be measured by these things. Plenty of highly intelligent students are big behavior problems!! Bad behavior is often a sign of boredom, but can also be a sign of a learning disability. I'd rather have teachers determining which it is than worrying about how to get all students to do well on one test!
"A teacher should be able to recognize students that appear struggling and give them the appropriate tutorial." - I agree, but how can they if they have to spend all their time teaching to a test? Appropriate tutorial teaches to individual students, not test questions.
"I believe an educator should be in control of their pupils and entertaining to keep a student interested." - Teachers need to be relevant to students. Since every student is different and have different opinions about what entertainment is, I doubt this would work in an overfilled classroom! Teachers need to make the material relevant to a life - not a test!
"The state is simply trying to get the best teachers in our public school sytem." - The state can find much better ways of finding and retaining the best teachers. Parental support, competitive benefits and salaries, other methods of assessment... You cannot judge a teacher based on test scores from a single test - it's not ethical, and it's not fair. It also short changes the students. I've seen plenty of wonderful students who crumble at the sight of a test - that doesn't mean their teacher is bad.
"These students, including myself, are your future. We are what you are depending on for the future. We need our future leaders as intellegent and genuine as they come, and that starts in grade school." - If you believe this (and I am agreeing with you!) than you would have to agree with me - keep the best teachers, and make sure you know they are really the best! If you let the best ones get away over some standardized test, our future will be just a bit dimmer.
It is demeaning for an excellent teacher to be judged solely on a test score. I also feel it is wrong for students entering college to be turned away based solely on an SAT score - it's kind of the same thing in some ways. Give your teachers more credit - if you want to learn more than what is on a test, don't let this happen!
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