Teacher Evaluations Based on Test Scores: Bad Idea and Worse Policy
Esperanza never got to give her speech in the fake teacher forum that she drove over an hour to get to, but I think she has her say here today in the Worcester Telegram:
By Jim Horn and Esperanza Donovan-Pendzic
In the new state regulations for evaluation of educators, approved on June 28, one of the three measures that will be used to evaluate teachers includes “state-wide growth measure(s) where applicable, including MCAS Student Growth Percentile and Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA).”
How much student growth, or value-added, test scores will count in the proposed teacher evaluation system remains unknown, even though other states like Tennessee that have already adopted similar policies in order to cash in on Race to the Top funds, count student test scores as 50 percent of teachers’ professional evaluations.
Evaluating teachers based on the results of the MCAS test is unfair and counterproductive. The reality is that high-stakes testing continues to narrow the school curriculum and to fragment
