Quick rant…
I believe children should be tested and compared to their peers. It helps teachers/administrators know how children are progressing, where they need help, and where they excel. However, I take issue with children’s performance effecting teachers jobs. Has no one else figured out that if a kid doesn’t like their teacher they could just bomb the test on purpose? What does it matter to the kid? In CMCSS they would just be passed on to the next grade anyway, and eventually given a diploma no matter what their scores. 100% graduation, after all.
Please! Give me a break!
Hiring and firing of teachers should be the principal’s job. PERIOD! Should the children’s scores be taken into account, of course. But you can’t feed every variable into a computer and have it spit out a teacher’s worth (read salary…). An algorithm can’t account for a child whose parents take no interest in their education! A computer doesn’t understand a child who just “doesn’t test well”, but still knows the material. A test score won’t give a teacher leeway because their marriage is in trouble and they lost focus. Yet, some folks seem to live and die by these test scores.
It’s just a test!
Please, legislators, administrators, and principals… Use your heads! Pay our teachers well, give them the tools to do their jobs, and watch the caliber of graduates increase. After all, do you really want teachers who are more worried about how the test scores effect their paycheck or how the scores effect those children? Seems you’ve made your choice.
Race to the top…
You’ve put a stack of money on a hill and now teachers will climb over the top of their students to get to it. Nice job.