Slow Down the School Reform FactoryMechanistically linking test scores to teacher evaluations means trouble not accountability
Reformers look on education as something like an assembly line: the requisite machinery and bins of gleaming parts are all in place. If the products that come off the line don't sell, it must be the welders who are to blame.
Under this mechanistic view, no one stops to consider blindingly obvious design flaws. What if the factory is tooled up to turn out gleaming, new … Edsels?
There's more than a little of this sort of oversimplification evident when the talk turns to teacher evaluation: Kids arrive for the school year well prepared. Teachers have been taught by the university and certified by the state. Principals and supervisors are trained to oversee and evaluate teachers.
If the test scores don't go up, then it's because the welders -- I mean, teachers -- held back or didn't
