This is all part of a mad rush to prep students for a third-quarter yearly post-test that included eighteen standards that were not on the first, second or third quarter curriculum map. Add to this a multiple choice writing test and teaching begins to feel like walking into a Kafka novel.
Between the quarterly benchmark and the AIMS test, we have a window of two months where pretty much every teacher will be teaching to the test. Add to this, the fact that we now test for over half the year (I'm not exaggerating) and you have a year dominated by testing.
What's the culprit? Our post test-will determine whether we are effective teachers. And, because evaluations are due at the end of the year, we have to use a third quarter test to stay within compliance of state and Federal standards. It's a nice example of a bad Arizona policy based upon federal pressure from Race to the Top.
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Before the Galileo test, a student says to me, "You look stressed."
"I'm fine," I tell him.
"I normally blow off the test, but my mom says you could lose your job if our scores are bad, so I'll do my best."
"How do you know about that?" I ask.
"My mom works at Heatherbrae and she told me our scores decide if you're a good teacher."
"I'm not worried," I lie. But the truth is I am. I'm terrified. I have tried my hardest not to teach to the test and I know that my students are not prepared.
Under No Child Left Behind, we used test scores to judge schools. That didn't work, so now we have Race to the Top, where we use test scores to judge schools and teachers. Explain to me again how this is a step forward.
I am a grade 5/6 teacher in Australia. I'm experiencing a similar situation with our NAPLAN (national assessment of literacy and numeracy) tests coming up. As our school year starts at the end of January and the tests fall in mid-May so much of the important foundational part of the school year is lost to teaching to the tests. You know it's a problem when your students can read your stress but I guess that's the situation that arises in a society where there always needs to be someone to "blame".
ReplyDeleteThat's so sad to hear. I wish this wasn't going viral globally.
DeleteClassic post from a liberal teacher, right? You vote for Obama and when he asks for the same accountability that the rest of the world faces, you blame him for the fact that you are now being asked to do WHAT EVERY OTHER BUSINESS PERSON does.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in business before I became an educator, I will say that I definitely was held accountable for my work and had annual goals and evaluations with metrics, etc. However, I also had a buy-in to those annual goals and metrics instead of them being mandated; furthermore, the goals and metrics were meant to further my career and standing in my position instead of penalize me. There was also the possibility of some sort of reward--monetary, often--if I were to meet and/or exceed said goals.
DeleteNow, I have no problem with teachers being held accountable for the jobs that we do. I hold myself accountable and feel that I should be evaluated because that's part of any job. But the problem with accountability as it has applied to education is that it is being misinterpreted as "We want to find ways to fire you." Had Mitt Romney won the presidency, this would have been accelerated to the point where the public school system would have been dismantled and the achievement gap between rich and poor students (as well as other gaps between rich and poor students) would have been widened.
Point being, the deck is stacked against us, and that is the problem John is talking about here. It's not that anyone in a classroom wants to be evaluated; it's that overall much of this is unfair and based on models that are suspect and meant to line someone's pockets rather than actually evaluate the state of public education in this country.
I suggest you do a little bit of reading and research before you spout ignorance in this space.
We're not in a business. We're working in a democratic institution based upon social, rather than economic, norms. Pretty simple.
DeleteYour response is nonsensical - besides, as John says already, teachers aren't working in a business, no business judges its employees based on a single unreliable measure the way people expect teachers to be judged (and rewarded/punished) based on test scores.
DeleteAdditionally, in cases where it is done (as in a CEO who's performance is judged quarter to quarter based on earnings), it produces all sorts of negative side effects (cheating - either "creative" accounting or answer changing, a narrow-minded focus on short-term results over long-term planning and execution).
It's a terrible idea no matter how you look at it, and it's not about a desire not to be held accountable, but a desire to be held accountable for the things that actually matter.
"Anonymous" is all about ignorance--'tis why folks hide behind that monicker.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael!
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