In New York, it will be teachers praying for the A on the test as city moves to performance ratings
I am not sure this was the outcome that anyone wanted with Race to the Top — more tests.
In response to the push in the federal grants for meaningful teacher evaluations based on student performance, New York City is developing its own battery of new tests that will be used to rate teachers. (Students in New York City will still also have to pass the state’s Regents test.)
The city understands the fear that more testing will be seen as an assault on true classroom learning and a drain on instructional time. Shael Polakow-Suransky, the city’s chief academic officer, told The New York Times, “How do you create an additional assessment that is actually going to strengthen instructional practice, rather than divert time away from instruction?”
(Here is a link, but the Times’ content is now accessible only to paid subscribers.)
New York City is getting $256 million in RTTT money, and will use about a quarter of it to develop as many as 16 new standardized exams to cover science, math, social studies and English in the 3rd through 12th grades, according to the Times.
The city says these new tests won’t be mindless bubble tests but exams that require kids show what they can do by solving a multi-step problem or writing an essay. As the Times reported: Mr. Polakow-Suransky said each test would most likely last a class period or two, and ideally be similar to a regular classroom assignment. Teachers, knowing that up to 20 percent of their annual rating would depend on how well their students do, might teach to these tests, but because they test higher-order thinking skills, that could actually strengthen instruction, he said.
Is there any chance that instruction could improve as a result and will this be the model in Georgia, which is also on a path to teacher evaluations that weigh student performance?
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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17 comments Add your comment
thomas
May 24th, 2011
11:55 am
*** off topic, but it’s funny ***
Budget Mix-Up Provides Nation’s Schools With Enough Money To Properly Educate Students
http://www.theonion.com/articles/budget-mixup-provides-nations-schools-with-enough,20350/
tchr
May 24th, 2011
12:01 pm
” I am not sure this was the outcome that anyone wanted with Race to the Top — more tests.”
I am not sure any other options were considered. Testing remains the only politically viable way to measure student, teacher, and school performance. Whether or not better alternatives exist, testing is what our policymakes from BOTH parties will continue to provide.
HS Public Teacher
May 24th, 2011
12:22 pm
Assessing teachers based on student test performance is like basing dentists based on teeth performance. Neither is the sole nor major influence on the outcome.
The difference is that the dentist is paid the same regardless. If they do a horrble job, they get paid the same. If the teeth fall out, they get paid the same. If the teeth rot to the core, they get paid the same. There is a reason for this – because the dentist cannot force their patients to brush their teeth every day. The dentist cannot force their patients floss. The dentist cannot force their patients to consume calcium.
Teachers must somehow have the ability to force their students to do this type of thing – which is why so many idiots think that teachers should have merit pay. Somehow, teachers must be able to ensure that their students get a good nights sleep. Somehow, teachers must be able to ensure their students are adequately fed. Somehow, teachers must be able to ensure their students study every night for an hour. Somehow, teachers can force students to come to school every day and even not be tardy.
Teachers are even more amazing that anyone realizes.
Wow.
Dr. John Trotter
May 24th, 2011
12:42 pm
A guilty client gets convicted. The lawyer doesn’t get paid. The patient who ate what the hell he wanted to eat, smoked incessantly, and drank like a fish died of heart disease. His physician doesn’t get paid. The kid who never brushed or flossed his teeth gets cavities. Yes, that’s right! Don’t pay his dentist. Yes, this makes perfect sense.
Dr NO
May 24th, 2011
12:56 pm
When all else fails lets just toss more good money after bad.
Former and Future Teacher
May 24th, 2011
1:21 pm
@Dr. Trotter…what is your meaningful assessment tool for teacher performance? Is it testing? Because a one-day assessment is useless to define an entire year’s work, for both the teacher and the student. A student’s dog days the day of a test…he/she may lose focus and tank the test. Does that reflect poorly on the teacher or the student? It shouldn’t reflect on either.
To which the quick response is, “OK, 1 or 2 students will have that happen, but a teacher’s performance is based on all of their students’ performances, not just 1 or 2.” I still argue that a one-day assessment tells you how everyone did that day, that hour, but not over the entire year…that’s why high school teachers do not give 100% final exams.
So, back to the question…if not testing, then what? Merit pay needs to be based on more than a single test performance.
teacher&mom
May 24th, 2011
1:37 pm
“I am not sure this was the outcome that anyone wanted with Race to the Top — more tests.”
Really?
This is exactly the outcome Duncan envisioned with Rt3. Teachers weren’t fooled. Instead, the pundits and media accused us of supporting the “status quo” anytime we predicted Rt3 would lead to more testing.
This is a great article that discusses the “value” of standardized tests.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/04/when_will_the_testing_bubble_b.html
This is on my reading list for the summer:
http://www.themythsofstandardizedtests.com/index.php
I really wish Gerald Bracey were still with us….
http://www.america-tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA/EDDRA29.htm
South Cobb parent
May 24th, 2011
3:02 pm
General education will never be top notch in the U.S. because, as a country, we have no interest in intellectual pursuits. We can throw as much money as we want at the problem and test the kids all day long, and it won’t get better, and the teachers will want to jump ship under the pressure to remake the country into something it’s not.
Americans don’t really want anything to do with intellectual work. How many adults (not to mention teachers) even read? If you take a trip on the metro in Paris or a train ride in Europe, you’ll see many people reading everything–magazines, books, newspapers. Ours is an anti-intellectual culture. Many popular politicians are proud of their intellectual shortcomings and so are their supporters. Educational reform is all talk. If I had a dime for every time I heard from other parents that foreign language, spelling, grammar, history, math (you fill-in-the-blank) didn’t really matter…
northatlantateacher
May 24th, 2011
5:12 pm
South Cobb Parent: I’m not sure if I’m totally on board with your post, but I do think that your points go a long way to explain what’s “wrong” with American education. I had a parent this year tell me that my subject area isn’t important in the business world. I teach English.
Incredulous
May 24th, 2011
5:32 pm
I do like the idea of a comprehensive testing process that requires critical thinking, factual information, and problem solving. On the surface, this idea sounds similar to what most freshmen in college experience. I am on board if they use beginning year diagnostics and compare them to year end results. I would love to see educational benefit in their SPED and ESL populations.
justbrowsing
May 25th, 2011
8:29 am
@South Cobb Parent- the schools will not allow us to develop students into intellectuals as the students often scream bloody murder if you make them do their work. Sadly- lots of uninformed parents mistaken this as someone giving their child a hard time. Spineless administrtators then support them in their efforts to keep their children ignorant, unevolved, and most of all- HAPPY!- after all they do not need any trouble from parents.
TS1
May 25th, 2011
8:46 am
What’s wrong with American education?. I just finished reading the second half of a book entitled “The Global Achievement Gap.” If this book (loaded with too much crap to mention here) is any inidication the direction of public or private education we are in big trouble.
bob leblah
May 25th, 2011
9:26 am
@HS Public Teacher – Agreed. Kids who have bad parents that don’t instill the importance of education; don’t teach respect of authority etc. come to school and do nothing. They want a passing grade for just attending most of the classes and skipping only a few.
I think perhaps maybe the only way kids scholastic abilities should be factored in, is by comparing last year’s results with the current year. This way you can see if a teacher “got through”. But I agree making every student the teacher’s responsibility when they see them 1 hour a day is pretty ludicrous.
Where's the quality?
May 25th, 2011
10:22 am
thanks for the blog please take this survey on quality education: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/qualityeducation
East Atlanta Teacher
May 25th, 2011
1:50 pm
The creation of more tests may be only a piece of the dilemma. Please take a look at Joel Klein’s latest article in The Atlantic Monthly and the comments that follow.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-failure-of-american-schools/8497/
Southern teacher
May 25th, 2011
2:11 pm
The more we assess- the more instructional time we take away from the students! Classroom teachers need to spend their time with their students and less time in constant meetings and “coaching” sessions telling them “new” ways to teach. Good grief, you can’t teach a child if you are always being taken out of the classroom to be inundated with new ideas from people who have not been in a classroom in years. As a teacher, I would love it if I could be allowed to just shut my door and TEACH my students!
Dr. John Trotter
May 26th, 2011
11:39 am
Please read Diane Ravitch’s latest book on the experiences in New York City and on Joel Klein and Blumberg. Ravitch is the nation’s preeminent educational historian. I would run away from anything that they are trying in New York City! Ha! Are we now lookng to New York City as the standard? Wow.