As the youth of America, adults continuously stress the importance of education not only for self-betterment, but also to develop youths into the future leaders of the United States of America. Keeping this in mind, it is no wonder that many people praise teachers as the molders of the future of America. However, if students do not do as well as they could in school, it is necessarily fair to put all of the blame on them? Although commonly overlooked, there are two parts in the equation when considering the educational prosperity of students, the student and the teacher. In a nation of opportunities and equality, how can it be fair that teachers grade students with the possibility of failure without an evaluation of the teacher’s performance?
Many places around the country have begun to factor in these teachers and schools in the success of their students. In Indiana, an educational revolution has begun. If this new method is effective, it will surely alter the educational system of the United States of America. In this new system of educational evaluation, “teachers across the state will be rated 1 through 4, with 1 being the lowest” (Elliot and Butrymowicz). One factor in this grading process will be the grades of the teacher’s students. By adding this into the overall evaluation, it incorporates the teacher’s edification skills along with the knowledge and prowess the teacher has instilled in their students. Along with this rating system, there will be a consequence for teachers that, after 2 years, fail to meet a rating requirement of at least three. Due to this, teachers that attain a rating of one or two symbolizing their need for improvement for consecutive years will be eligible to be let go by their district. The othe...
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Works Cited
Corbett Burris, Carol. "Using Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers Is Based on the Wrong Values." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. .
Elliott, Scott, and Sarah Butrymowicz. "Grading Teachers: Indiana's Massive Education Reform Will Create 'a Culture Shift'" The Indianapolis Star. 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. .
Means To An End. A Guide to Develop Teacher Evaluation Systems That Support Growth and Development. The Aspen Institute, Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. .
O’Rourke also appeals to ethos by providing key evidence of how standardized test scores in America have not improved despite an increase in spending per pupil. He cites the NAEP in this statement: “SAT scores in 1970 averaged 537 in reading and 512 in math, and 38 years later the scores were 502 and 515,” (O’Rourke). O’Rourke presents this evidence to
A third and the most obvious way that educators characterize the needs and abilities of their students is with grades. Whether your in first grade and get U's or S's, or your in highschool and get A's, B's, C's, D's, or F's teachers are always judging students ability levels. Anoth...
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
192). Therefore, the main caveat which Apple (2001) raises in his article and warns about relates to the possible future marketization of teacher education, when the teachers ' qualification and teaching aptitude will be evaluated according to the results of the students ' on international testings, as opposed to their professional experience and knowledge. Cochran-Smith (2008) in her article on teacher education in the US, uses the euphemism 'the outcomes trap ' (p. 276), implying that nowadays teachers ' quality is being measured through the testing scores of their students. These fallacious assumptions may lead the countries in trouble in the future, as Cochran-Smith (2008) warns, because teachers on their own cannot solve the problem of testing without the “investments in resources, capacity building, and teachers’ professional growth, not to mention changes in access to housing, health, and jobs” (Cochran-Smith, 2008, p. 276). This implies, that teachers should not be evaluated according to their students’ scores, neither should their professional development be constrained by the standardized testings, because apart from that they have own professional aspirations which are needed to be fulfilled. Ball (1998) also holds against the performance-based
Evans, Donia. "The Case Against Standardized Tests." The Meridian Star. 24 Nov. 2013. The Meridian Star. 01 Dec. 2013 .
Standardized testing has taken over the education realm and led to a shift in the institutional goals and values of education. In the last 40 years, standardized exams have changed; they were once used to determine the learning level of students, but now they are being used to determine the teacher’s ability. Standardized tests do not measure education quality and are incorrectly used, leading to the wrongful evaluation of teachers and the limiting of education for students by schools.
Educators should never be held completely accountable for student scores on standardized tests. Though these tests were made to evaluate a students rough estimation of skill, they were not made to evaluate their entire education. Teachers should not be completely held accountable for test scores either. These scores hold too much power over schools and educators. Failure on a standardized test should mean “improvement needed”, not “you should just give up!”. These tests create anxiety caused by the consequences surrounding them. Giving American students a well-balanced education should be the school systems main goal in order to ensure America’s future economic success. Standardized tests are okay to use as rough estimates, but not for a total evaluation of any person’s ability.
Teachers: What Do We Really Know? Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness , 2 (3), 209-249.
Andes, Scott. “Getting Serious About Education: Why Can We Measure Students But Not Teachers?" Progressive Fix Website. 28 July 2010. .16 November 2010
One solution offered by Alfie Kohn, a well-renowned speaker on human behavior, education, and parenting, suggests that teachers would give parents written evaluations of how their child is performing and having frequent conferences available to talk about their child’s performance. Kohn believes that the most effective teachers do not rely solely on standardized tests. Great teachers are able to observe their students and are able to see without the use of exams how well their students understand the concepts being taught. In 1999, Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup poll surveyed the community. Individuals were asked to choose which of four approaches they felt would be the most precise evaluation of a student’s educational development. Using exam scores from standardized testing received the lowest percentage of 27%. Evaluating work that the students have done over a period of time received the highest number of votes at 33%, while the remainder of the votes were divided between letter grades and written evaluations from teachers after observing each student (Pollard, J, 1999).
Everyone knows that when it comes to making a difference in a child’s academic and life achievements, their teachers play a large role. A teacher’s ability to relate to their students, and teach them to achieve both socially and academically contributes to how effective they are. What does it mean to be an effective teacher? Overall there seems to be an emphasis on teacher effectiveness related to how well their students are performing on standardized testing. As teachers we know there is more to being an effective teacher then just teaching our students based on tests. This paper will identify different definitions of an effective teacher along with how to assess teachers on being effective.
Columnist, Guest. "Test Scores and Teacher Competency." The Oregonian. Oregonlive.com, 4 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
The state’s new evaluation system was in response to administrators who produced, “superficial and capricious teacher evaluation systems that often don't even directly address the quality of instruction, much less measure students' learning” (Toch, 2008). Too often, the “good-ol-boy” attitude would insure mediocre educators would remain employed. Realizing this was often more the rule then the exception, the governor created educational mandates to focus, “on supporting and training effective teachers to drive student achievement” (Marzano Center, 2013). Initially, they expected the school districts and the teachers would have issues and experience growing pains, but in the end the goal was, “to improve teacher performance, year by year, with a corresponding rise in student achievement” (Marzano Center, 2013).
In order to understand how teacher evaluations can be positive, we need to look at their purpose and how districts do teachers evaluations. According to different articles written by Education Leadership, reformers many times neglect teacher evaluations as a tool to improve student learning, this is because most schools lack credible systems of measuring the quality of
In recent years, the cliché image of a teacher has come under attach. Research has shown that teachers often work in an isolated setting in which they are considered experts in their specific area; however they often lack the support and equipment needed to do their jobs effectively. As a result, to the inadequate working environment new teachers often leave the profession within the first five years. These conditions often exist because the educational system fails to prepare our teachers with the proper tools and experience needed to do their job well (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).