Teachers should be treated with dignity, respect
Ihave taught for 21 years with excellent evaluations. I have a master’s degree and experience teaching overseas with excellent to exemplary evaluations. I am now, however, “minimally effective” based on New Mexico Public Education Department criteria. I am a perfect example of what is wrong.
In a low-income school, teachers spend countless hours not only teaching, but contacting parents; dealing with emotional, housing and health issues; working with special-education case managers and social workers; all while continuing our own professional development. Our students simply do not do as well on standardized tests as others. They are scored “in comparison to students across the state with similar academic history (academic peer group)” (i.e., students in the same grade). I do not believe that white, wealthy children of parents with college degrees, whose first language is English, are “academic peers” or share “similar academic history” with most of my students. However, their scores are significant in my evaluations.
Our students are subjected to seemingly endless testtaking. These tests are not just bad, they are horrible. They do not test a student’s ability to think analytically, read for meaning, or understand the constructs of language and grammar. They test for mindless parsing of overly long and unengaging material. The “correct” answers are often quite arguable. Students become demoralized by their results.
When we began to look at schools as businesses and students as consumers, we lost all credibility in assessment of both. Teaching and learning cannot always be quantified. They are qualitative in nature. I know that if most of my students fail a test, I have either not taught them well, or my test is bad. Likewise, for an entire district to not be teaching well, something is wrong in the assessment. For an entire district of students to not do well, something is wrong in the assessment. These tests are bad. Teachers know their jobs. We know assessment. We are not shirking accountability.
Standardized tests are a moneymaking business designed to make districts believe they need these tests in order to produce educated students, to feel that because their students do poorly, they need more tests, they need more review of the tests; therefore they must keep purchasing tests.
Quantified teacher evaluations are designed to show poor results as well. Teachers may not apply for advancement if their students’ scores lower their own. Level One teachers, given their evaluation criteria, are likely never to advance. The district saves a great deal of money evaluating teachers in such a way.
If we test and quantify in inaccurate ways, we can justify privatization. Likewise, if our teachers and schools “fail,” New Mexico can apply for federal funding. There are many concerns about Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera and her connections to testing contractors. Many feel she has compromised our students, our careers and our morale.
Politicians profit, not advancing teachers keeps the budget in line, and the public is deceived into believing our schools are failing. As it is, qualified teachers will find work that is better paying and less demanding. University students will not pursue a career that cannot guarantee advancement or respect. And teachers will refuse to work in low-income schools. It is time that teachers and schools are given back the reins for assessment. It is time that policies regarding education are made by educators. And it is time that teachers are treated with dignity and respect. This includes fair assessment of our students, our teaching and our schools.