If you are following education issues your interest was surely piqued when it was reported this month that nation's largest school district, New York City Department of Education, is starting to measure teachers' performance by looking at student test scores.
At one time, in the recent past, I was completely against the idea. In the hands of an incompetent, not very intelligent, or politically driven, administrator this could be a dangerous tool. On the contrary, in the hands of a visionary and competent administrator, looking at student performance can be a wonderful aid to help a teacher tweak his or her practice.
We need a method for evaluating administrators, superintendents, and school boards.
See the NYT article.
1 comment:
It only becomes a problem when the grade (or score) becomes more important than actually learning anything.
I had a cousin who couldn't pass his high school exit exam (TAKS). I explained that the tests gave three answers that made very little sense and one that should be obvious. He passed on his next try with no problem. (But he didn't know anything about the subjects.)
There has to be a better way to measure knowledge besides tests.
(The Princeton Press guide didn't help. He said that he didn't know what any of the words meant.)
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