Massachusetts teacher's union accepts use of scores in making evaluations

[n2doc]

By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / December 21, 2010


The state’s largest teachers’ union, embracing a concept shunned by many educators, plans to offer a proposal today to use student test scores to help judge which teachers deserve promotions and which ones should be fired.

The report from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, to be released at a state Board of Education meeting, positions the union as an active participant — and an unusual one, for a labor organization — in pushing an issue that is highly polarizing among teachers.

Many teachers unions around the country, including the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, have opposed efforts to include standardized tests such as the MCAS in firing decisions, arguing that such tests fail to capture the full range of learning experiences and penalize teachers charged with educating students from challenging backgrounds. But the association says that the change is inevitable and that teachers would be better off shaping it.

“We have to be the architects of reform, rather than the subject of it,’’ said Paul Toner, the union’s president. “We have always said we’re not here to protect bad teachers.’’


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http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2010/12/21/boston_union_to_embrace_use_of_student_test_scores_in_teacher_evaluations/

[bbgrunt]

1. sad.

[spartan61]

2. As an educator for 32 years,

I think evaluations based on standarized test scores is a terrible idea. Not all children come from the same background. This will lead to more and more "teaching to the test" and to hell with any kind of teaching/learning. We don't always know what is going on in the homes of the children. Some children come to school deprived of sleep the night before the test because parents are drugged out and fighting all night and others come to school well rested and well fed plus with encouragment from parents. How can this be fair to teachers? I'm not saying that poor teachers should be protected, but there are other ways to evaluate teachers. I like the idea of unannounced classroom visits from administrators to see what is really going on in a classroom.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Instead of "surpirse visits" by admins how about video monitoring/recording?

Concerns with any teachers' poor performance can be evaluated discretely on an individual basis without interrupting class. Plus, "surprise audits" can be conducted quickly and efficiently (versus having a person actually visit and impose on each classroom.

It's probably cheaper on a larger scale than having in-person audits and is more substantial than personal accounts of observations.

[spartan61]

4. I like your idea.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. We are where we are today due to the inactions of our teachers unions

who rather than get proactive and develop better and fairer evaluation approaches and standards instead put their heads in the sand. Their ignoring of this issue meant that they were bypassed and other approaches forced upon us.

[YvonneCa]

6. I totally agree. n/t