We Measure What We Treasure, and Other Myths About Education Policy…
I received a phone call from a music teacher last night whose principal had recently marked her down on an unannounced, “drive-by” observation…because the students “weren’t engaged.”
When she asked how the principal had come up with that rating, she was told the “evidence” upon which the comment was made was based on the principal’s observation that “only 10% of her students were looking at her” during an exercise in beginning guitar class while the class was learning a finger picking example.
Mind you now, this principal acknowledged to the teacher that she “knew nothing” about music in general, and had never touched a guitar in her life. But there she was, making evaluative judgments about this certified, qualified music teacher’s ability to teach guitar
A few thoughts…
A. There were 13 students in the class, so that means 1.3 kids were allegedly looking at her–I mean, data is data, right? If a teacher’s job security is going to be determined by a reliance on CONTINUE READING: We Measure What We Treasure, and Other Myths About Education Policy… | Eclectablog