Contrary to the
cheerleading by politicians and the media, parents should have a major concern
over the new teacher evaluation system that has made many headlines in recent
months. Unfortunately many of these newsmakers and so-called reformers have
little or no experience in the classroom and their ignorance about education
policy will hurt our children. On the surface it is easy to see the logic of
how people would believe in high stakes standardized testing. If a teacher raises test scores, then
that educator must be of high quality, if no progress is made then we should
fire that teacher. We need to
delve further into how testing hurts students before we truly believe that
these reform movements will help our children.
Parents need to be aware that using
these high-stakes test results to evaluate teachers will have long-term
negative effects on their children. Some parents may think that these exams are
“just a test”, but unfortunately the test has become the central focus for
school districts. Administrators
are constantly emphasizing the importance of test results to their staff. The
effect of this irresponsible policy is that we will see a further teaching to
the test, well beyond what occurred during the last ten years of No Child Left
Behind. The time devoted to test
skills and preparation will continue to increase while the narrowing of
curriculum will occur. Elementary
teachers feel the pressure to increase math and ELA scores and some are
neglecting history and science. Programs in the arts are being cut in favor of
increasing test preparation time. Students are losing some of the fun
experiences that provide true learning instead replaced by drill and kill
lessons.
The student and teacher
relationship may also change. Will
a student become just a number?
Will teachers see a test score instead of a human being when dealing
with students who need academic help or guidance through personal problems? It
is sadly ironic that college and career readiness standards are being pushed at
the same raising the stakes of testing that will not prepare students for life
after graduation. The NCLB generations are starting to graduate from high
school and many lack the critical thinking skills needed to be successful in
the future.
The reformers call for the use of data
to help teachers and their students. The vague data that is provided to
educators does not provide the information necessary to improve instruction.
Using a number to judge an educator or child is trying to simplify a situation
that is much more complex than any statistic can reveal.
Exams do not truly show the abilities of
all children. Some students are
poor test takers and crack under pressure of high stakes exams. These children can excel when given the
proper time and atmosphere to express what they have learned. Students also
experience burnout, as the many days of testing add to their stress. The exam time frames have been increased
to three days for each of ELA and math tests, so students will have six days of
high stakes exams over a period of ten school days this spring. The state education department has also
raised the daily timeframe of these exams to durations that are completely
inappropriate for students, especially an eight or nine-year old, to focus and
perform at their best. The testing timeframe may increase if high stakes exams
are added to other subjects.
Imagine the nightmare of five to six weeks of constant examinations.
High stakes testing proponents claim
that using exam results to evaluate teachers will help remove lazy or
ineffective educators from the classroom.
Actually this form of teacher rating could help the small percentage of
teachers who are considered weak.
It is very easy and requires little effort for a teacher to teach to the
test, so the ineffective educator may actually do well under a system with test
accountability. An
interesting and fun learning environment that goes beyond the workbooks and
drills takes much more skill and time to prepare. It is certainly possible that a teacher who challenges their
students with well thought out lessons that involve critical thinking and
knowledge beyond the basic facts could have lower test scores than the
ineffective teacher.
A buzzword from the school reform
circles is competition. This may
work well for the public in the business world, but not in education. The best way for teachers to improve
their instruction and develop as a professional is to work cooperatively with
their colleagues. The sharing of
ideas, lessons and best practices is the hallmark of a cohesive school
environment that benefits the students. Would an educator think twice before
helping a colleague, when that sharing could result in the other teacher being
higher ranked? This corporate
model of education reform will fail our children.
Teachers are not afraid of fair
evaluation. Principals and exemplar teachers should have their schedules opened
up to perform much more classroom observation of their colleagues than what is
occurring now. This method of
professional guidance will help improve instruction and ultimately help our
children succeed.
Parents
should demand an end to the over testing of our children. NCLB and Race to the Top have created
costly mandates to local districts.
The required testing and data systems are siphoning already shrinking
school budgets from our kids to corporations that provide the needed programs,
software and materials. The resulting catastrophic rise in class sizes will
hurt our children’s education. Teachers voices have been drowned out with the
media propaganda storm in favor of high stakes testing, the only way to save
our children from the damage of these misguided reforms is for parents to stand
up and say no to this madness.
