Wisdom from a 2012 CM “it doesn’t matter what their scores are”
Throughout my teaching career, one thing has remained constant: what I’m trying to accomplish. Back in the early 1990s there was no focus on test scores, thankfully. My goal back then, as it is now, was for my students to like math more when they complete my class than they did when they began the class. This is something that is tough to quantify, and it is something that, if I accomplish it, will often, but not always, result in improved test scores since when students like math they will more likely want to spend time studying it outside of class.
In 2008, TFA celebrity and StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee had this to say in an influential TIME magazine feature:
In 2008, TFA celebrity and StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee had this to say in an influential TIME magazine feature:
“The thing that kills me about education is that it’s so touchy-feely,” she tells me one afternoon in her office. Then she raises her chin and does what I come to recognize as her standard imitation of people she doesn’t respect…. “People say, ‘Well, you know, test scores don’t take into account creativity and the love of learning,’” she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids
