Last week’s column bemoaned a lack of sensitivity and nuance in most teacher performance measures. I have criticized “Skillful Teacher” in the past, part of a failed Fairfax schools merit pay initiative. D.C. currently reviews teachers using the IMPACT program, which has received mixed reviews. I am in favor of only one rating process, and that one is expensive and involves outside experts.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has figured out that self-reflection is key, and that principals often have their own agendas when rating teachers in their buildings. No principals are involved in these nationally recognized certifications. The wisdom of this kind of approach for teachers and schools has become clear as I work with other Advanced Placement teachers in a College Board-sponsored Summer Institute.
I am meeting with 32 AP teachers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a state that uses a draconian assessment model that ranks each school A, B, C, D or F, and then broadcasts the grade online and even over each school’s public address system. (Way to destroy morale!)
Over the past five years I have conducted numerous AP and pre-AP workshops for College Board in Florida, and I have a couple of observations: 1) nearly all the teachers I meet are smart and dedicated, and 2) they fret over the emphasis on grading schools based on student scores on Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), scores on AP tests, and the number of students enrolled in AP.
I wish teachers felt better about Florida’s initiative on behalf of its students; student commitment should not lead to low teacher morale. My comment to the state is yes, put students first, but don’t bully teachers into a state of paranoia as you place their scores and schools under a microscope. Support teachers, don’t demoralize them.
The teachers attending my workshop come from a county that boasts good schools, yet when I checked how many of the high schools had a “D” rating, eight names popped up. Certainly parents and students have a right to know test scores of their local schools. But what does a grade of D mean, other than public humiliation? It’s easy to find a school’s grade online but much more difficult to discover how that grade was determined.
More than half the teachers this week have attended AP workshops prior to mine; it’s clear they are concerned with preparing their high school students for college-level thinking, reading, and writing. They realize that teaching students to think critically about what they read will translate into benefits greater than mere test scores for students (and therefore higher grades for their schools). Even those students who “fail” the AP test enter college knowing it’s not enough to summarize what they’ve read since college courses expect students to reflect thoughtfully on the value of an author’s ideas. The Florida teachers recognize that a quality education is not all about test scores.
Labels for schools or teachers tell parents and the community little about what the learning experience will be like for their children in a particular school. Schools, like teachers, should not be reduced to a pass/fail ranking system.
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at mailto:[email protected] “>[email protected].
