Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out his thoughts on strengthening the teaching profession and educators from across the nation have been responding. Don’t be shy, join the conversation by replying to Sec. Duncan and your fellow educators. Here is a sampling of what your colleagues are saying:
I am deeply concerned that teachers ALONE will carry the burden of accountability when SO MANY outside factors are beyond our control.
Francisco Laguna, Norwalk, California
Teaching to a test is one of the quickest ways to disengage students who would rather be using technology to build content relevant websites, blog with students across the world, create podcast and video-conference with fellow students across the nation. It is through modes of teaching and learning that our students and our teachers should be assessed.
Chris Miraglia, Santa Ana, California
Photo: NEA/Norman Lono
What Mr. Duncan is proposing is to establish a rigid academic system through economic incentives to state governments. Ironically, the teachers that I listen to need imagination and flexibility in order to reach students with diverse needs, skills, and cultures.
Larry Hoffner, New York, New York
I believe that Secretary Duncan has some brilliant ideas, and while they may be scary, they may also be necessary.
Nicole Thompson
The best professional development I have received recently is through my own initiative to receive National Board Certification. My principal was not aware of what this entailed or what the final certification meant. Why should I trust this type of leadership with my evaluation?
Dawn Remsburg
I am glad to hear about the ways in which the Obama administration plans to strength the teaching profession. They are aware of the weaknesses in the system and they do seem to have done their research. Many points that were raised in this article demonstrate that they do hear the concerns and complaints of today’s teachers.
Shannon
The federal government continues to degrade teachers and use them as a scapegoat for the crumbling public education system. NEA should be standing up for teachers and students.
Carina
I appreciate Scty. Duncan’s efforts; I know he and his people believe 100% that they are saving our Public Schools. The entire charter school/ competition/reward methodology, however, will be counterproductive for SO many reasons. Central: No one–NO ONE–has determined exactly HOW to accurately assess a teacher’s teaching ability. There are TOO MANY variables involved–physical, psycho-social, behavioral, genetic, familial, age, nutritional, economic, etc. etc. that contribute to the level at which a student is capable of learning. AND–HOW does one measure that completely intangible magical connection that teachers are able to make with some students, and not with others. If Merit Pay were to be assigned, it might only be appropriate for trainings, proof of implementations, taking various classes, extra activities, productions, etc., but canNOT, by any stretch of the imagination be applied correctly based solely nor primarily, on students’ achievement scores.
Doesn’t matter what we are saying, they are not listening. LOL…
Same old song and dance…(gosh, that would make a good song…)
Teachers have become the scapegoats for a failing economy. Unemployment is the result of corporate greed (e.g. downsizing and outsourcing). We are not going to solve the nation’s problems by teaching to the tests. Arne Duncan is offering us more of the same policies that have failed in Chicago. His ideas are hard to distinguish from those of the Bush administration. It’s time for teachers, and NEA, to stop being on the defensive and demand real support for education.
Arnie Duncan, and the President’s “Race to the Top,” continues to require that teacher evaluations be tied to student achievement, meaning “test scores.” I and all who teach students with IEP’s(regardless of handicapping condition or severity), ELL, and students in gen. ed. who are the “slow learners” who don’t qualify for Sp. Ed.will be penalized for that.Salaries tied to test scores punish us when our students DON’T and NEVER will “achieve” like everyone else. Under those plans we’ll OWE the district money. We don’t get “magic wands” with our certification.The previous Secretary of Ed. Spellings was not an educator, nor is Duncan, who has never taught a day in his life. He “talks” plenty, but has never “walked the walk.” In one breath he has said a “one-size-fits all” approach isn’t the right way to go, to get teacher/union support during the election. But it IS when evaluating teachers?? As a Democrat it pains me to use the words of the anti-teacher “right.” This is NOT change I can believe in!! It IS more of the same.
Thank you for your comments. Well said!
Testing will never be accurate until all stakeholders involved NEED to do well on it. These tests are long, boring, and have nothing to do with my students’ end grade. Students know it means nothing to them in my state. They will pass whether they do well on the test or not, so they just bubble in answers without even reading the questions. Most teachers have seen students finish a 50 minute test section in less than five minutes because they just bubbled in answers, yet no one is accountable but the teachers.
Every day we see this in our area and who cares? Not the student, not the parents and certainly not the government. Students who just answer anything on a test you have thoroughly prepared them for do not care whether your job is in jeopardy based on their response. I would like to see the government’s salaries and living based on the capricious moods of a disgruntled 8 year old….
Schools should go back to basics, especially in grades K-4.Reading with phonics, grammar, writing,math science, Social Studies in quantity. Skip the language, and just have music, art and gym as out of the classroom activities. The school day hasn’t changed in decades and everything added to the curriculum squeezes out the important subjects. There isn’t time to teach,practice, review and the children are short changed. Concentration on getting the students to read and do math in the early grades should be the emphasis.
The education system needs to stabilize it goals and objectives to meet the needs of the nation and then specific regions. Educators should be able to do more than indicate with pen and paper what is wrong with a teacher’s methods, but be able to take charge of class and physically show teachers how to do it. That’s why supervisors should be hired. Supervisors and others above teaching level should
be required to return to classroom every five years. This is inclusive of board members. Also students must be held accountabile.
You cannot teach anyone anything that they don’t want to learn.
We compare our system of education to European systems. There is no overall comparison that can be made. We try to make education accessible to all children; they then pursue education to their level of competence. Sometime with all the changes that are being made before we give options an adequate trial period; we off and running on something new by a method that as been tried with model students in model schools. There is little or no need to teach ship building in the Shara Desert.
I believe in the back to basics approach as well. The testing format needs to be revisited by classroom teachers and the local districts. Government has too many other things to worry about right now to be able to give education the attention it needs and deserves.
My only question is what are we as educators supposed to be doing? I always thought that it was to prepare the students we “teach” to become viable contributing members of society in their jobs, their patriotism and their interactions.
By teaching to a “test” what are we accomplishing? We need thinkers not test takers. What does a “test” really measure if three days later the student couldn’t tell you anything? Is this some sort of mind control?
Supposedly these test are what get our students into college, what about the students that can’t, don’t want to, or don’t have the aptitude for college do? What is in education for them? We say that a good education leads to a good job but what about those that just want to own a auto shop and fix cars? What about those that just want to own a salon one day? When was the last time you called a college graduate to come and unstop your plumbing and install a ceiling fan?
It takes all kinds to do all the jobs that are out there and we as an educationale program should be preparing students to feel comfortable in doing what every they want to do in life as long as it is going in a positive direction. I just wish that it was truly about the students and not about federal funding and money.
I just wish the powers at be would wake up before it is too late.
Roy
Thank God for you. I agree, what about that student who wants to follow in Dad’s footsteps and fix cars or build houses. They may not want to go to college but every one of them will go on to some sort of higher learning, trade schools or aprenticeship and they need a good high school education in English and math that meets their particular industry standard along with good vocational (oh my god I mean technical please don’t flog me) education.
Roy from your mouth to the government’s ears. Secy. Arne Duncan needs to hear this…Say you’ll send hime a letter..
Thanks.
I can teach to the test if that is what you want–but think about what you will get from students that are only good test takers. Are you interested in good test takers or well rounded students that can read and write and think critically?
Also, why are we considered what seems to be ’second class citizens’? Why do we continue to receive MORE directives, and LESS pay? I know of no other occupation where there is so very much asked of one person! Please look at that as you are considering the plight of the teacher.
Thank you
If you want to grade my teaching based on the standardized tests then here’s how the tests need to be changed.
1.) The test should be given in June as part of the final grading. Students are definitely affected by how they perform. Stop telling them that it doesn’t count as part of their grade. The age old question is “Is this going to be on the test” Answer… “Well, yes, but that doesn’t count as part of your grade. Nice message America. All the time and money spent on these tests, and we don’t make it worthwhile to the most important person in the equation.
2.) Putting the test at the end of the year will mean the schools can really choose how to teach to the test instead of cramming materials in without the time to really reteach and all the other wonderful things that should be done if we didn’t have to cover x number of concept in a week.
3.) Putting the test at the end of the year would mean that we don’t waste weeks of the year in the MIDDLE of teaching to stop, review, then test. Someone should figure out the real cost of these tests.
4.) The tests that we pay for, and I’ll get in trouble for this, need to be DIFFERENT. Come on teachers! How many of you pass out multiple choice tests that are identical… sure… x number of forms but only the test questions for the testing companies differ. Not a single one of us would do this in classrooms packed as tight as they are. Sure give them the same questions (if you really can’t come up with equivalent questions… in math??, but change the order of the questions and change where the answer is… WHY has the national union and the state unions not stood up for academic integrity instead of allowing this to continue. How much do we pay companies that work with the text book companies…..? I don’t mind their test questions. Though ALL of us know that multiple choice is the worst possible method of assessment.
5.) Let us run our own correction of the tests on the spot………. so we can use them to TEACH… so we can use them to LEARN to teach better. Why do we spend …millions.. .billions to send tests off for all these companies to struggle to get us scores back months later when the opportunity to HELP the students is lost. When the time to figure out how to teach better is wasted over the summer.
6.) Taking the tests at the END of the year would allow schools to have the most time possible with students who have changed schools.
7.) I’m sure you could add to this list. Do it! Our union apparently is tongue tied politically. No parent wants their kid to be tested to death. Down this testing path comes benchmark tests… even more multiple choice tests. Fine. Let’s just kill all academic freedom and interest in this country.
8.) Here’s a thought. If you are TESTING AMERICA’s schools. How about we test the SENIORS? Our final product? Who let them off the hook?
9.) Give us credit for getting kids to pass the High School Exit exams before they graduate! Now, it’s a “gotha”. Start with 4th grade level and by the end of sophomore year, they take the Exit Exam. Honestly! Who thought this stuff up??
Everyone wants to compare our kids to the rest of the world. Well, my experience with other countries says they don’t waste time mid year taking tests like this. At the end of the year you take the test that will determine if you move on … or spend the summer praying you can pass the test at the end of the summer. Retaking a course? That should cost the student. Then you could put some pressure on teachers!
So……. unless someone can honestly answer these points, I’m going to assume that this is really all a nice game to push public eduction into a hole. There are no academically sound answers to the problems listed above. The money to make these changes? Insignificant! I’ll wait to hear some politician actually get up to point out that the Emperor has been walking around buck naked for years in this nation, but boy, the political fun they’ve been having has been great, and the publishing companies have been making a mint.
Quite frankly I feel that all educators are allowed do today is “teach to the test”, if they do anything else they catch *@ll from administrators and other teachers. As a former business owner I saw high school graduates that couldn’t count money, or support themselves. I would rather teach children the skills that are needed to support themselves such as work ethic and basic math. They also need to know how to treat others, and work toward a common goal. Let’s go back to more basic curricula and stop the high stakes testing. As others have said, teachers cannot make up for the lack of good role models at home. If we can’t teach the skills to make a living we are doing a disservice to our students, communities and country.
Bless you, Peter.
Finally someone with a brain and the guts to speak out. I have been saying the same things for a number of years now, but it seems that no one listens, or maybe cares. I have tried to get people to follow the money trail on all this standardized testing. Our district even requires that we use the textbooks published by the companies our state buys the tests from. Talk about pork barrel!
I truly had hoped that after eight long years of being considered enemy number one by the previous administration we could expect some relief from the Obama administration. Instead he has appointed a non-educator, hatchet-man to bludgeon us to death.
Where are all these bad teachers at, anyway? I have been in the business for over 25 years and I have never encountered over a handful(and they were never gotten rid of, because the administrators lacked the cojones to actually do their jobs and prove that these were poor teachers. Instead, they usually spent their time and effort stamping out any creativity in younger teachers.)
Keep fighting the good fight, buddy. And yes, the King is strutting down the middle of Main Street bucky-assed naked.
Cindy
Money has not all the answers, Parents leave their children to be raised by teachers and are not doing his share of the work, nobody is making them accountable. Students wild behaviors are just a reflection of what our society is turning into. Manners should be taught to parents and children, building basic respect and social behavior is a first step.
I truly support more rigorous training for teachers I am totally against what I call “microwave teachers” people who think that with one year of clases, will become true educators. The facts show that they have no classroom management, and give up very soon. Ours is a respectable career,with a high amount of responsibility, to allow these people enter the classrooms.
How about all our illegal students, who usually have the highest GPAs, the willingness to make every effort to succeed and the desire for a college career? I see evvery year many of these briliant kids, droping out, because the doors for college opportunities are closed in the noses. I know, its politics, but it is also a reality that nobody wants to accept nor address.
One last issue, Education has become a business, programs that offer a panacea for failing districts, exams designes without aknowledging the specific realities of every district. How much money has been wasted for years with no results? When have the districts consulted their own teachers? We know what is going on in the classroom, we know our kids. There is so much professional expertise within every school that is ignored by administrators and legislators.
Now tell me about it.
I have to agree that teachers benefit from continual learning, but to put all the responsibility on the teacher with respect to educating, and to supporting young people is short sited and totally missing the mark. When parents and the students (when appropriate)are held accountable for how their children perform, we may see things change.
Students and their teachers need to be allowed to be creative and be given time to develop new strategies for success and learning as opposed to being pushed into a “one size fits all” test. Working with students who have special needs means there are many factors involved in whether or not the student is “successful” in the classroom. Teaching to a test is usually the least likely way to provide quality education for any student.