Reply #19: We JUST had this conversation in our team meeting today. [View All]

[alcuno]

What is our plan, as a grade level, to raise test scores in reading and math? While not unanimous, several of us said let's just teach to the test. Sorry folks, but that is the most likely scenario.

Tell me a profession or a job where you are evaluated by taking a test. Policemen? Firemen? Secretaries? Teachers? Checker at WALMART? You get a performance review!

You think teachers are going to be fired for standardized tests? Come on. We know how to work the system and teach to the test and while you make think it's unethical, what are you going to do about it? And while you are figuring out what to do about that (oh, you'll have to build another bureaucracy) dollars and time will be wasted on something that doesn't really matter all that much because EVERYONE involved has turned it in to a joke; states, local districts, administrators, and teachers.
NCLB? It isn't funded anyway so some states are actually taking a pass.

One of the things that has always made the American school system BETTER than those around the world has been the fact that we don't peel off kids using testing. You can go as far as you want and the system doesn't have roadblocks: until now.