Florida Teacher Faces Dismissal Over Computerized Music Testing
In Florida, music teachers must administer computerized tests to assess themselves.
It is a setup.
If students have difficulty with signing onto the computer, or with submitting a response, the teacher assisting these students could be accused of cheating.
It’s called “zero tolerance.”
On October 28, 2016, the Tampa Bay Times published a story about a music teacher who was accused of cheating on the computerized test designed to test her.
Never mind that the outcome of the test was terrible. Zero tolerance.
Never mind that using computerized tests to determine fine arts outcomes is imbecilic on its face. The State of Florida wants to test all teachers in their subject areas, and the narrow, unrealistic practice of using computerized standardized tests to determine teacher worth might as well be extended to its illogical extreme.
Instruments down, kids. Time to grade the music teacher. Have a seat at the computer.
From the Tampa Bay Times story on Hillsborough County music teacher, Vanessa Lewis:
Lewis, who was used to a format in which she played music and read questions, now had to administer the test via computer. She is not good at technology. And she missed a training session, relying on the school’s art teacher to fill her in on the instructions.Her kids, who had in some cases sat through weeks of testing already, were exhausted.“They were done,” she said.Still, her job depended on their scores.Children told their teachers that Lewis fed them some of the answers.“My own students said it took forever because they had to sit with their hands raised until she came to them and checked their answers,” third-grade teacherFlorida Teacher Faces Dismissal Over Computerized Music Testing | deutsch29:
