I’m not a big Survivor fan.  I mean, I really hate what the people become when pitted against each other.  So I don’t watch it…at least not on TV.  So when I read Scott McLeod’s post suggesting that school communities vote off their least popular teacher, “dismissal by consensus”, it’s not that I don’t feel his pain, I mean the bottom 10% of any school is enough to destroy the accomplishments of 90%, but I worry that schools are headed to that witch hunt place.

We all know there are teachers out these who shouldn’t be in the classroom, but many of them gave years of great service prior to burning out.  Many of these teachers mean well, want to communicate content, but simply don’t have the skills.  Yes, some need out, and the process to exit them is inappropriate in its difficulty, but we can’t be after blood.

Our anger should be less about the broken teacher, and more about the broken system.  There are cruddy people in every profession, but cruddy teachers are allowed to remain longer, doing damage to the company (the schools) and their product (learning).

This article examines the anger and the levels of importance people desperately need to see the problem solved.  

Let us all be warned: we need to be a part of the solution or let the games begin.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, school accountability, teacher evaluation, teacher evaluations

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Here’s yet another reason why test scores can’t be the only way to gage teaching quality.

A colleague of mine, a fifth grade teacher, at the UCI Writing Project got a call last night from her automated phone tree saying that the school was being closed for 7-14 days due to a swine flu outbreak in the classes.

Two confirmed cases, 8 kids out last Friday in her class alone, a teacher or two out…OK, I guess if we’re closing schools for flu outbreaks, they seem to have one.  But the stressful thing here is not the flu itself.  No, the vomiting is outweighed by the reality that the school is scheduled to have testing next week.

The AP is calling Sacramento to see what can be done.  What do you mean, “What can be done?”  Do you mean postpone the tests, or simply put them in the frame of reference to which they belong; that is, they are one way, a frankly inaccurate photograph, of an entire year’s accomplishments?

I agree that we need some standardized assessment of students to see if they are hitting the basic foundation of our standards.  Standards, of course, are for another post entirely.  They do not, for example, represent the level a student thinks, but rather, how many facts a student can regurgitate.  Hmmm…Perhaps the swine flu is good preparation for tests after all.

Anyway, putting aside the quality of the standardized tests in their current form, this example just adds to the main reason why test scores can’t be our only gage: there are too many factors outside of the classroom that impact test scores.

We cannot continue assessing teachers using a method where so many variables can be corrupted.  Abuse at home, homelessness, health care, hunger, nomadic lifestyles, divorces…these all affect tests scores. Gossip, breakups, upcoming thoughts of birthdays, pizza for lunch…these all affect test scores.  Bubbling incorrectly, anxiety, sleepiness…these affect test scores.  So do school closures.  So do teachers that students have had years prior.  And yes, a small slice of the assessment pie would be the quality of the current teacher.

But how do we explain those students who always do well, no matter which teacher they have?  How do we explain those students who never do well, no matter which teacher they have?

Tests are too imperfect, and evaluating teachers is too important to leave in the hands of imperfection…much less swine flue.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: assessments, standardized testing, swine flu, teacher evaluation, test scores

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