Wrecking physical ed: Ohio’s P.E. assessment for kids
On the list of absurdities connected to the national trend of evaluating teachers by student achievement are situations where, for example, teachers are assessed on the standardized test scores of students they didn’t have. Here’s an addition to the list: The physical education assessment tool that Ohio physical education teachers will use to evaluate their students.Students had been evaluated in the past in physical education, but a new assessment which started this year is far “more prescriptive,” according to this story in the Columbus Dispatch. And as noted by the Fordham Institute’s Ohio Gadfly Daily, the student results are to be used to assess how well physical education teachers do their jobs. It said:
The Ohio Department of Education has, as mandated by state law, put together a 165 page “Physical Education Evaluation System” that is now being used across the state to measure the effectiveness of PE teachers. The document not only spells out the standards students are to meet in gym class, but also has a number of suggested written