A new path for learning: Altruism favors students over test scores
When asked about his favorite part of the school day, Johnny replied, “When the final bell sounds.” That’s because for Johnny, and many of his peers, a school system fixated on standardized testing is anything but relevant.
The generally accepted verdict is that a teacher should be measured by ability to teach. The best way to determine how well a teacher teaches is by a standard assessment that measures what students have learned. Young people will then grow up to become productive and knowledgeable members of our society, thus creating an overall public good. The logic seems intuitively unambiguous. However, what if we have it all wrong?
Instead, what if favoring a teacher’s ability to help students learn is less effective than prioritizing a teacher’s ability to improve students’ well-being? How do we know for sure that teachers who are good at teaching to a test are as influential to the overall public good as those teachers who can make positive impacts on students’ lives? If we do agree that the very premise of public education is allowing students to one day become productive citizens in our society, then we must ask ourselves which are the best ways to measure a teacher’s ability to help students accomplish just that.
Let’s revisit Johnny, a struggling eighth-grade student who often found himself in trouble. Johnny’s lack of interest in school was all too apparent to his teachers and administrators, most of whom struggled to help Johnny.
Mr. Smith, one of the most respected English teachers in the school (mostly because of his high standardized-assessment scores), improved Johnny’s test scores by two percentage points. While it may not sound like a lot, for a struggling student like Johnny, this is a miraculous feat. However, Johnny went on to never earn an English grade higher than a C- in four years of high school. More important, Johnny’s English test scores never translated into his life after school.
On the other hand, Johnny’s math teacher, Ms. Rodriguez, prioritized Johnny’s well-being ahead of his test scores. She realized that Johnny was going to grow up to be neither a mathematician nor a math teacher, and instead she invested her time in Johnny’s long-term success. She learned that Johnny had come from a family of lifelong mechanics. So she helped Johnny figure out how much he and his father should charge for oil changes, brake repairs and tire rotations.
Because of this, Johnny went on eventually to transform his father’s small mechanic shop into one of the most successful in the region. The individualized education Johnny received in math, along with his hard work and discipline, translated into lifelong success.
In this hypothetical situation, who could honestly say that the teaching of Mr. Smith was more effective than that of Ms. Rodriguez? If the goal of public education is to promote for the public good, it’s obvious that Ms. Rodriguez was more effective even though her students’ test scores weren’t as high as Mr. Smith’s.
From the philosophical point of view, the case for altruism is unequivocal. Focusing on improving the lives of students should not only be a byproduct of teaching, but rather the main objective. Teachers are faced with the moral task of improving the lives of students from the spectrum of knowledge to temperament to motivation.
Skeptics will claim this example is closer to an outlier than it is to reality. But what is true for one student is certainly true for the whole. After all, teachers teach individuals, and teacher focus must align to individual student needs. From the holistic perspective, teacher focus on altruism over assessment is the perspicuous way to maximize student well-being and thus improve the public good.
It’s true that test scores are important. It’s also true that assessing teacher effectiveness based on altruism is a difficult task. However, it’s also a conversation that we must all have. For educators, administrators, and policy-makers, it’s time to question the status quo and challenge what has been perceived as gospel. Assessment might not be the solution. Instead, what if an altruism-based education system is most effective?
As teachers, it’s important to make sure we are asking the right questions. But what if the wrong questions about teaching have been asked all along?