GUEST: Teachers are caught in the testing crossfire
By Grace Nufrio As teachers, we are caught in a crossfire when it comes to standardized tests. We do not design these tests, we have no control on what is on them so, therefore, we cannot adequately prepare our students to take these tests. We do not get the results back for individual students–just a score, if we are lucky, months after the student has left our classroom. Yet, these standardized tests will count in our evaluations on whether or not we are a “good teacher” or a “bad teacher.”
We are also in the middle because, when we tell parents that we do not think these standardized tests accurately assess their child’s knowledge, we appear to be self-serving. If we tell the parents that we truly believe they should opt-out for their child, again it appears to be self-serving.
We are in the middle of this battle, with everything at stake, but we cannot speak out, without appearing to be selfish and to care only about ourselves.
With the TeachNJ Law, our hands are tied even more. That law was a way to write out tenure. We are seeing the results of this law now. We are seeing more and more experienced teachers who have been effective in the past suddenly become partially effective or ineffective. We are seeing tenure charges being brought to get rid of experienced teachers.
I am not defending a truly “bad teacher,” but the reality is that there really aren’t that many “bad teachers” in the system. Most have left because they couldn’t teach and didn’t like children. The teaching profession is too hard for someone who doesn’t like teaching. There are other jobs that are much easier. There are other jobs that don’t require you spend your own money to have the materials students need to be successful. There are other jobs that don’t require all the extra hours that teachers put in to prepare for their classes and grade their students work on their own time. There are other jobs that don’t require personal family time be GUEST: Teachers are caught in the testing crossfire | Bob Braun's Ledger:
