The Commission on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) recommends that educators working in high-poverty schools be judged on students' test scores. The implications are that thousands of teachers could lose their jobs as Congress prepares to consider the renewal of NCLB. Teachers' unions are among those attacking the proposal. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Edward McElroy, claims there is no reliable means to connect student achievement to teacher performance. The executive director of the National Center for Fair and Opening Testing says the recommendation will only intensify the teaching-to-the-test mentality. The NCLB Commission has also recommended that national standards, instead of state ones, be enacted. In addition, the Commission calls for consistency across states in reporting test results. Do you believe national standards, national tests, and standardized reporting of test results are in order? Moreover, should educators in low-performing schools be held accountable for students' test performance?
Credit: picture found in Wikiepedia in NCLB entry, 8/19/07
8 comments:
I don't think it's fair for teachers in inner city schools to be judged by their students test scores. If a student does poorly on the CMT, it cannot accurately reflect the teacher. I believe that teachers teach for a reason...they want to make a difference in students lives. I don't think a teacher should be judged on how her/his students perform. A lot has to do with family life, motivation, support and the students willingness to learn.
~Sarah
I made a mistake...I mean high poverty schools. But regardless, I don't think it's fair to judge any teacher no matter where they teach solely on their students test scores. Many other factors need to be considered.
~Sarah
There are too many factors that influence a student's performance besides the teacher. In our high school there are many initiatives to improve performance on CAPT. However, my issue is that we need to deal with attendance issues first. How can a teacher be accountable for student learning when the student is not in the classroom? We collect and assess the data from many forms of assessments in our school. I would like to see the correlation between passing grades and attendance. Jeanne
I too believe that teachers in inner city/high poverty schools should not be help accountable for their student’s lack of performance on state standardized testing. There a lot of factors that influence a student’s performance on the CMT or CAPT test and putting the blame on the classroom teacher shouldn't be the solution to the problem. Instead of pointing fingers, law makers should take the time to investigate the underlying cause of poor academic achievement in high poverty schools.
I'm sorry I didn't indicate my name on my previous posting. Lauren
The NCLB Commissions' recommendations are mostly political and just serve to prove their membership's ignorance to the research and current situation. By constitution, the federal government does not lawfully control the education system; they only do so via threats to withhold Title 1 funding. Some of our lowest performing states have the fewest "at risk" schools because their standards are low or they manipulate their data. Control needs to be at the state and local level since a local school system must meet the specific needs of the local population. States need to restructure the way education is funded to remove the power from the federal government once and for all.
Tom
I think it is unfair for teachers to be considered at fault for those students who do not meet the testing standards. There are many other factors that influence a students' performance on tests, such as motivation, home life, and students own view on the importance of a good education. My feeling is that teachers want all of their students to be successful and work their hardest to see this happen, but students also need to pull their weight as well. At times it almost seems like teachers want their students to be more successful than the students want for themselves, therefore I do not think teachers should be held accountable.
Jill
I think it is wrong to assess a student's performance using a single test. Some students just don't test well. This cannot be controlled. I think a teacher has the responsiblity to make a difference in their students' lives. This act definitely puts stress on teaching to the test and this makes students resent school more. There are also different factors that are influencing inner city students' performance on a test. Many of these things cannot be controlled. With the increasing demand for students they have little time to enjoy all that elementary school has to offer. We shouldn't be putting all of this stress on them at such an early age. ~Erin
Post a Comment