In a recent segment on The Daily Show with John Stewart on March 3, 2011, Diane Ravitch made a guest appearance speaking about her change on standardized testing. At one point she stands up for teachers stating how America seems to, "blame the teachers for everything," yet looking at issues more closely it's not bad teachers that are the problem but a bad economy; poverty is to blame, not teachers. John Stewart responds by explaining how there are bad individuals in every profession, using fast food employees as his example, but the point is that whereas a few shaky employees are okay in other fields, the education field gets slammed for every "bad" teacher and furthermore every teacher becomes scrutinized for a single individual's lacking skills. Obviously this is not fair as one teacher's performance does not necessarily equate to another teacher's. Additionally, due to the importance placed upon standardized testing a teacher may be perceived as "bad" when her students scores come in, but she or he may in reality be a brilliant instructor with a group of students from low socio-economic backgrounds facing added difficulties like hunger that prevent them from reaching higher scores. Yet, as Ravitch recently realized, as long as standardized testing exists this problem will not be resolved. Is there a way to separate "bad" teachers from bad test scores? As future educators, who will be entering the field terrifyingly soon, what happens if you get placed in a low SES community? Your students' scores will most probably be low and thus your skills will be questioned, how will you justify your abilities?
2 comments:
I think an issue at hand is the standardized testing, but I also feel a lot has to do with an attitude that parents have today that I don't think they did in the past. Some parents today have an attitude that if their child did not do well in a class, that it must be the teachers fault,not that of their own child. People are also resistant to change, so if a new style or way of teaching is implemented, people such as parents and pundits can give a negative opinion and vibe on it. When a child heres these they could then already have their mind made up that what they are doing is dumb or stupid or isn't going to work. so because of this it probably won't work and then the teacher's are to blame. I also think that teachers will always be under scrutiny because you are dealing with other peoples children and that the easy way out for parents and other people is to blame teachers rather than themselves and their children. As long as you truly are working hard and trying your best as an educator, it will be easier to ignore the negative comments than if you are just trying to get by as a teacher.
This is going to be an oversimplification, but one way to separate bad teachers from bad test scores is to have principles and other administrators make routine, unannounced observational visits to rate the quality of teachers. They could assess how well the teachers maintain discussion and learning in the classroom, how their teaching methods and lessons reflect their educational beliefs (such as encouraging students to connect disparate areas of knowledge), and how the teacher encourages students to express themselves as learners rather than test-takers.
Like Diane Ravitch, I think that testing and the current paradigm in American education that links testing to achievement is a huge disservice to students everywhere. As a future teacher, I hope to find ways to make my students view standardized testing as an accessory to knowledge rather than the sole indicator of knowledge.
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