The Opinion page of the Sunday (6/2/14)
Herald carried a column written by Chris Powell of the Journal Inquirer in
Manchester. Powell’s article discussed the now abandoned proposal to reform
teacher evaluation practices in Connecticut along with standardized testing of
students. Standardized test results of students were to become an integral part
of the State’s standards for teacher evaluations.
Whew! I’m glad that idea was
stalled. As usual, Powell was right on point with his assertions. He used as
beautiful examples of being glad that the process was stalled, two letters that
had been written by Connecticut public school teachers, one from “tony” West
Hartford and the other from “gritty” Bridgeport. Powell’s major point was that
decline in effectiveness of public school education is not that the caliber of
teachers has declined but rather, the caliber of students; put another way ,the
“tony” West Hartford students are not necessarily smarter than the “gritty“
Bridgeport students, just better prepared, perhaps.
In my opinion, teacher evaluation
reform should concentrate on the improvement of instruction and not tie in as a
major factor standardized test results of students as an indicator of teacher
quality. The students in a teacher’s classes are as varied as snow- flakes as
will be the effectiveness of that teacher with each student. Teachers must be
skilled in identifying the strengths of their students and also, ways to
capitalize on those strengths. Teacher evaluators must be equally skilled in
identifying the strengths of all teachers. Evaluators must be able -prepared-
to offer suggestions for improvement in areas of instruction as well as
praising the strengths of a teacher.
All people learn differently,
including teachers.. It’s harmful to judge them on basis of standardized test
scores.
2 comments:
If you really want to reform education and make teachers accountable, then get rid of teacher tenure which ultimately guarantees them a $90,000 a year job for 9 months a year work whether or not they even perform their jobs, then you will no longer hear stories of teachers who simply refuse to teach or others who are too dangerous to be allowed near children and yet in either of these cases they can't be fired because they are guaranteed their jobs for life.
Wouldn't those of us who are footing the bill for this nonsense wish we could be guaranteed our private sector jobs for life whether or not we actually perform our jobs?
School vouchers are the simplest way to fix the schools. When parents get to decide what school their children will attend instead of bureaucrats then when schools must compete in order to stay in business, then and only then will you begin to fix the problems with our schools.
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