by Brian
I have been thinking about having test scores released in my district, like they want to do in New York City. The public would be able to see which teachers had added value to their students and which hadn't.
Joel Klein, the chancellor of New York City’s schools says:
"If one teacher is found to be consistently high performing, don’t we want that teacher collaborating with others? And, in turn, if one teacher is found to be consistently low performing, don’t we want to help that teacher improve, or move to replace him or her?"
Well, here's the rub:
In my school, one teacher has calculus, pre-calculus, and algebra 2 classes. Those students are all college bound kids who are taking more math classes than necessary to graduate. That teacher is going to look pretty good when the scores are released.
I teach algebra 2 and algebra. My algebra students seem to be a pretty random sample of the student population, which would be fair. Except that this year we have selected the lowest performing students and put then in two algebra classes that are backed up by a second, elective class, that we hope will support them with additional homework help and remediation. Seems like a good idea, but when you release the scores it will look like I am doing a better job than my colleagues, just because of the way we have assigned the kids.
And there's another teacher that does better with high achieving students than with the lower ones, so he has been assigned to teach the "honors" sections of algebra. His scores will probably kick my butt.
How do we explain this to the public when we release those scores? I like and respect my colleagues in my department. I wouldn't trade a single one of them. We collaborate well together, we share data, we write and use common assessments, we share what works and what doesn't. And we are committed to doing the best we can for our students. Which includes placing them in differentiated classes that will give them the best chance for success, and will certainly make using test scores to judge us useless.
Release the scores? It makes me want to be the guy that teaches photography.
Sal, well said: “Why is brain development/capcity viewed (from an educational perspective) so much differently than physiological develoment and capacity?”
Why does every 15 year old have to master Algebra, and every 16 year old Geometry? They can do it when they need to (which for most will be never).
Sal makes a really good point– and it’s one that is easy to lose in all the discussion about testing. Kids bring to class a wide range of needs, and while standards are important, it’s back to (in a sense) the one-size fitting all.
The PE example is really intriguing. PE/health does have some curricular standards, but they don’t have performance standards. If parents were told their child had to meet a certain physical benchmark in order to graduate (7 minute mile, twenty pull-ups, etc.) that would definitely open an unwelcome can of worms. This analogy, though, does remind me that just as every kid has a different physical capacity based on where they are developmentally, so they also as well have different intellectual capacities. Don’t shout me down with accusations that I’m saying “not all students can learn,” but the reality is, they all can just like we can all lose weight. For some, it will happen quickly and with ease, for others the struggle will be great–there are other factors involved than just effort and a good trainer… I hope I’m making sense.
This post got me thinking as I was driving home from school the other day. As a high school math teacher, I have also been experiencing the demands on core teachers to produce results (whatever that means), and get students to meet standard(s). I am starting to feel a little disheartened by a system that continues to reward one behavior, while hoping for another. A system that is structured to reward (directly or indirectly) the developed/fast learners and the teachers who teach them, all while making it harder (more hoops) for the effective teachers to do their job.
After reading “Release the Scores?”, I started to think about what it would really look like to attach a number to a teacher’s performance. What would this look like if PE developed grade level standards? Why haven’t we created measurable standards(expectatations really) for physical fitness? What do you think the response would look like if someone decided that 9th grade females need to be able to run an 8:00min/mile or faster? Number of Push-ups? Bench Press? Squat? Pull-ups? How about a standard for BMI? Body Fat %? Let’s just assume this happened for the sake of arguement…what would it look like if teachers were evaluated on the basis of student achievment? What about merit pay?
If a student couldn’t meet standard, would we give them another PE class? Would we make them work out 2 hours/day, even though their bodies wouldn’t allow them to absorb more than 20 minutes of the first class? Would this make them more fit, or eventually lead to a severe state of stressed induced overtraining, fatigue, burnout, sickness, and/or injury?
Why is brain development/capcity viewed (from an educational perspective) so much differently then physiological develoment and capacity?
PE Teachers…if you here the words “merit pay” in your district, I know what students I would want!
Okay – sorry to have started ranting when the post was about the problems with using test scores to get a snapshot of a teacher’s ability.
I’m with you there. There are problems, but I think if other data is included (so there, I guess, my district was a bit progressive) it can work.
Clearly, I need more coffee this morning.
Brian,
I didn’t say the union was totally to blame for bad teachers staying in the classroom. I said I was fed up with my union, and I am. It seems to have become more interested in resisting change than anything else, and I do not feel my union is hearing or advocating for those of us who are willing to change. Your union sounds different from mine, and it’s totally possible your union is superb. Mine is not.
Yes, administrators are responsible. I didn’t say they weren’t. But we don’t hear much, or say much, about how administrators need to step up and ensure their teachers are effective, or ensure the district is working FOR the classrooms.
I think I have a different experience than both of you, and perhaps my frustration is greater, because I’m in Seattle – a huge, centrally-run district with a lot of waste, a lot of inertia, and a lot of dead weight. It sounds like both of you teach in more agile, more progressive, and more effective districts.
My understanding of why some unions (my local for example) are opposed to pay-for-performance or merit pay is that there has not yet been devised a fair and equitable way to assess merit and therefore award it greater pay.
As for why bad teachers are allowed to stay in the classroom, I don’t know that the union is to blame for that. Administrators not having the time (or the instructional expertise) to get into the classroom for actual observations is a HUGE part of the problem. Give the administrators fewer mandated hoops to jump through, and maybe they could get into the classroom to (1) identify ineffective teachers, (2) give them due process evaluation and the opportunity for remediation and (3) get rid of them if necessary.
I’m not prepared to absolve parents of responsibility. That sends the wrong message about the purpose or duty of a public school–or any school for that matter.
Kristin, I have held every job in my local union except secretary (I type with two fingers), and my experience is different than yours. I have represented teachers charged with unprofessional conduct, insubordination, and incompetence. And they lost their jobs. I have represented teachers who received a bad evaluation from a hostile principal, and they were given a chance to improve. I have helped colleagues going through tough personal times. “Bad teacher” is not a phrase that helps this discourse.
And the union is us.
Bad teachers on your staff is an administrator issue. Unions can only force the due process to be followed.
In my district they are “triangulating” assessment data, so they are taking into account multiple assessments, including the teacher’s in-class assessments, anecdotal data, and attendance. The attendance is key, because it reveals student effort and parental oversight.
I think this is a big step for a district to take, and it’s one of a few things my district has done to move in the right direction. Another thing they’re focusing on is growth instead of performance, so if the AP kids score near the top, but haven’t made any gains, that teacher hasn’t had as big an impact as a teacher whose kids still don’t meet standard, but have scores 30% higher than the previous year.
One thing that has to change is that so much pressure is being put on teachers of the core classes, especially reading, writing and math. I agree about the photography comment. We can talk all day long about teaching across content areas, but give me a break. When the math, reading and writing scores are included on the schools “report card,” and science is given a bye because they’re still perfecting the test, only a few teachers are having their feet held to the fire.
It’s curious to me that the unions are all for one and one for all in terms of protecting seniority and fighting any job security that’s based on performance, and yet the union allows only some teachers to be tested, evaluated, and held up to the public as effective or not. If we’re going to say P.E. is so important that a child has to take two years of it in high school, then maybe P.E. is important enough to test.
And you know what else? I know I’ve been one of the loudest complainers of the lack of parental involvement, but I’m over it. It is a much bigger problem than I or any teacher can fix.
My staff had the option to take on a really rigorous evaluation system that focused entirely on instruction, and I am the only teacher who chose to do it. My colleagues said – and I quote – “I’m teaching pretty damn well already, I don’t think there’s much more I can do.” Meanwhile, only 40% of our African American students graduate.
I’m done thinking about parents as a group that needs to be held accountable, and I’m beginning to think about teachers who need to be held accountable. Maybe it’s because my district has made the small step of taking attendance into account, maybe it’s because I’m angry that my staff is so busy patting itself on the back for IB scores they can’t see the drop outs, maybe I’m fed up with the union, but I’m also fed up with blaming parents when bad teachers are allowed to stay in the classroom.
Is there anyway to release the teacher data with the student data? Somehow or another students need to take responsibility/be held accountable for their own education. How to do this is the question? KIPP schools have the student data publicly displayed in the office or some other place where the students and public can see it…just a thought…from a parent
Good thing I’m department chair–I can just muscle my way into AP and pre-AP classes. Instead of the inclusion and intervention classes I currently teach.
Imagine the fury if the names of parents whose kids didn’t pass the tests were published in the paper.