Test Scores and Teacher...

[YvonneCa]

. ...Evaluation. Arne Duncan is listening here:

http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/07/secretary-arne-duncan-speaks-at-nea-conference-invites-comm/

[madfloridian]

1. Arne's mind seems to be made up. He just wants testing.

and more testing. He doesn't think teachers understand students or how to handle them? He is arrogant.

"“Let’s talk about data. I understand that word can make people nervous but I see data first and foremost as a barometer. It tells us what is happening. Used properly, it can help teachers better understand the needs of their students. Too often, teachers don’t have good data to inform instruction and help raise student achievement.

“Data can also help identify and support teachers who are struggling. And it can help evaluate them. The problem is that some states prohibit linking student achievement and teacher effectiveness.

“I understand that tests are far from perfect and that it is unfair to reduce the complex, nuanced work of teaching to a simple multiple choice exam. Test scores alone should never drive evaluation, compensation or tenure decisions. That would never make sense. But to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible."


No, Arne, you make this retired teacher very nervous. You do not understand real teaching and real learning....just effing tests.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. What is being sought is metrics and a way to fairly asses teacher performance

If we don't start participating it will be the standard tests.

[madfloridian]

3. What is being sought is "charter schools".....fail the public schools, change course.

Arne Duncan speaks of more testing and use of stimulus money for testing databases

"Testing databases paid for with stimulus money to aid in connecting teachers to students' test score. Can you say using the stimulus to hasten merit pay?

Part of the stimulus money, he told Sam Dillon of The New York Times, will be used so that states can develop data systems, which will enable them to tie individual student test scores to individual teachers, greasing the way for merit pay. Another part of the stimulus plan will support charters and entrepreneurs."

More:

Schooling in disaster capitalism: how the political right is using disaster to privatize public schooling.

Around the world, disaster is providing the means for business to accumulate profit. From the Asian tsunami of 2005 that allowed corporations to seize coveted shoreline properties for resort development to the multi-billion dollar no-bid reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the privatization of public schooling following Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast to the ways that No Child Left Behind sets public school up to be dismantled and made into investment opportunities--a grotesque pattern is emerging in which business is capitalizing on disaster. Naomi Klein has written of,

"... the rise of a predatory form of disaster capitalism that uses the desperation and fear created by catastrophe to engage in reconstruction industry works so quickly and efficiently that the
privatizations and land grabs are usually locked in before the local population knows what hit them."

..."Capitalizing on Disaster in Education

Despite the range of obvious failures of multiple public school privatization initiatives, the privatization advocates have hardly given up. In fact, the privatizers have become far more strategic. The new educational privatization might be termed "back door privatization" or maybe "smash and grab" privatization. A number of privatization schemes are being initiated through a process involving the dismantling of public schools followed by the opening of for-profit, charter, and deregulated public schools. These enterprises typically despise teachers unions, are hostile to local democratic governance and oversight, and have an unquenchable thirst for "experiments," especially with the private sector. (10) These initiatives are informed by right wing think tanks and business organizations. Four examples that typify back door privatization are: (1) No Child Left Behind, (2) Chicago's Renaissance 2010 project, (3) educational rebuilding in Iraq, and (4) educational rebuilding in New Orleans.

Schools are failing more now due to the standards of the NCLB program that can not be met because they are impossible.

And Arne is waiting to pick up the pieces and set up charter schools.

[LWolf]

18. De-regulation and privatization are the clear agenda.

And it's being pushed by the Democratic Administration.

Does anyone care? Who, besides educators, will stand in opposition?

[YvonneCa]

4. I agree with you about...

...the need for educators to participate, it's just that our experience and understanding of REAL reform are still being shut out of the national conversation...lead by our new Secratary of Education. Have you read responses on that site? We are participating. Most DO NOT support Duncan's plan...and he just keeps on speaking the same old tired rhetoric.

http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/07/secretary-arne-duncan-speaks-at-nea-conference-invites-comm/

http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/05/secretary-arne-duncan-takes-listening-tour-online-invites-comments-on-raising-standards/

[madfloridian]

5. He really does not want to hear from teachers. His mind is made up.

Teachers overall cringed when he was appointed. Ones that did not understand then are starting to see the end of public schools as we know them. And under a Democratic administration.

[YvonneCa]

8. I know. I guess I'm just not willing to give up...

...until there is no other choice. :hi:

[LWolf]

7. I like response # 19:

Sec Duncan isn’t really willing to discuss the true issues with testing. The tests themselves are fundamentally flawed. They are biased in terms of SES. So the middle class and upper class do fine on the test; the poor do not. No where in all his remarks does he mention or address this or suggest how to correct it. Merit pay will drive teachers from poorer districts to richer ones. Before you tie pay to these scores, you have to fix the test.

Secondly, why don’t we ask Sec Duncan how many times his district hit AYP while he was there. The answer would be zero. So he’s gone from the leader of an “underperforming” (his words) district, to being the biggest advocate for keeping the current system. Do as I say not as I do??

[YvonneCa]

9. It is a great comment. I was quite impressed...

...actually with most of the comments. They were intelligent, well-thought-out, clearly expressed, and very dignified. Considering what's at stake, that is amazing. And most of these well-informed educators were making the case AGAINST Arne's ideas. If they could just REALLY be heard and acted upon, that would be wonderful.

[roody]

13. Testing = $$$, not for education though.

Data is the new in word.

[LWolf]

6. Those are some great responses.

Being the cynic I am, I suspect that the "listening" part of this process will result in Duncan cherry-picking a few responses that support his agenda, and that contradict the overwhelming consensus against his proposals, to forge ahead with merit pay.

I agree with Jody, # 42, who said, <snip>

The above comments illuminate the complexities of standardized testing, tenure, teacher evaluation, and merit pay. I sincerely hope that Mr. Duncan will carefully consider the views posted here and not dismiss them simply because they come from educators. I’m not clear on why they aren’t the first group consulted when considering far-reaching policy changes. Mr. Duncan’s argument that educators resist change simply doesn’t hold up–especially given all the changes that have been made in the past 8 years (a few generated by teachers in their classrooms and on their campuses, many more imposed). The sincerity and passion in the above comments testifies to a deep commitment to students,
to colleagues, and the teaching profession and a shared goal of creating an educated democracy where students have the skills they need to contribute and to flourish.

My response is in there, too, for what it's worth.

[YvonneCa]

10. Mine's there, too...three times...

...for what it's worth. :7

[YvonneCa]

11. A few PRICELESS quotations...

...from Arne's blog:


Denise..."Should doctors be judged on the health of their patients?"


Jo Anne..."What is clear to me is that women and men who gave years of their lives, despite unreasonable conditions in the classroom, financial penalty and general public disregard, will be penalized for the general disinclination of communities to support schools in any number of meaningful ways that we know can work. We know what is needed; we don’t want to pay for it, nor are we keen to admit that we must undertake the protracted reorganization needed to implement, link, and assess comprehensive services for children. Until we do, not just individual children, but huge swaths of children, will end up producing poorly for our society, rather than richly, and well."

Rebecca..."Frankly, I’m tired of being the bad person. Education is a four-point structure: parents, students, teachers, and administrators. When one of the points refuse their share of the work, then where does that leave the other three??"

Jane...

"The real question is, does all this uncompensated time and money make me a better teacher? The answer is: I don’t care. I also don’t care if I get merit pay or not. In my opinion the very idea of merit pay is an insult. Yes, I need to be paid. I, like the vast majority of my colleagues, work hard for my salary. And thanks to my school district’s negotiated pay schedule, I don’t have to compete with my fellow teachers for my paycheck. I can share my materials and the things that I learn with them without fearing they might show me up. I don’t have to butter up the principal for a good evaluation. I don’t have to fear having hard-to-teach students in my class because they might bring down my test scores.

So then, why am I motivated to spend my summers and my money to get ready to teach my new students in the fall? It really is no mystery. In the fall there will be thirty reasons for my motivation who will walk into my classroom, take their seats and begin to learn.

When will politicos realize that certain professions draw people who care more about making a difference than making a buck?"

[LWolf]

12. Jane's response kicks ass. nt

[YvonneCa]

14. It sure does...

...:7

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Has Arne said anything about the 100% proficient goal?

Isn't it in 2014? No one with a brain believes we can ever have 100% of our kids proficient. Yet I hear NO ONE talking about eliminating this goal.

[LWolf]

16. It's conveniently left out of the equation, isn't it?

Perhaps someone should bring it up with him on this site? I've already commented...go for it.

[YvonneCa]

17. I second that...

...emotion. :7