These are some quotes from her op ed in The Tennessean in December. She has been teaching for 27 years.
New evaluations more harm than goodI agree that teachers need to be evaluated and held accountable. I have no problem with a plan that requires all teachers to be evaluated annually. However, the state’s current plan has too many flaws; in their haste the state’s legislators implemented it before it was properly thought through, causing teachers, administrators and even students undue amounts of stress and anxiety. Let me give two examples of what I mean. First, the plan greatly increases the time required to create and plan out a lesson without adding value to the children’s educational experience.
I recently completed my announced instructional observation. I chose a lesson that I would normally do, using materials that I already have and regularly use. Even under those circumstances, I spent at least 20 additional hours writing up the lesson, making sure that I covered all the indicators in the rubric. I know other teachers who spent more than 30 hours.
The lesson was no better for my students than what I would have done otherwise. In fact, it was probably worse. Remember, I teach 8- and 9-year-old children. Because I had to include all the elements on the checklist — rather than choosing the ones appropriate to that particular lesson — I’m afraid they might have been overwhelmed. Choosing two or three things, and doing them well, would have been better.
The second thing she mentioned was that "the plan evaluates many teachers based on the performance of students other than their own."
I chose the fourth-grade social studies scores, even though I don’t teach it. Oh, and the fourth-grade teachers are using eighth-grade test scores. Makes sense, right? Seems that things like this should have been a little better considered before the plan was required for everyone.
It makes no sense at all.
The Perdido Street School blog points out who is leading the effort to
investigate the evaluation system there.The new evaluation system in Tennessee is so badly designed that politicians in both parties are calling for it to be reviewed and changed.
So far, the governor has refused calls to do this, though he has appointed an education reform group led by former Tennessee senator Bill Frist to review the system and see if changes need to be made.
I am thinking that would be the education reform group called SCORE. Here is their
with Frist leading the way.They say the group's Steering Committee is made up of educators. I found the site for that committee, and you can judge for yourself.
SCORE Steering Committee20 or more hours on a lesson plan that has been previously used simply does not make sense. Of course the fact that the education commissioner in TN is VP of TFA might have something to do with it.
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