Hello. My name is Carol Singletary
and I am a National Board Certified teacher with 27 years experience teaching
high school English and journalism. After 24 years at Clovis High School, I
left last year to teach English at a university. Why am I, who no longer
teaches in K-12 speaking to you? Because my colleagues can not miss school to come here today or they will
be penalized by one of the “multiple measures” of the new teacher evaluation
plan. If they use one of the 9 days they are given contractually each year to
come here and discuss education with you, they will be penalized.
So, you have me. And I have never
done anything like this before. I hope you don't mind if I pretend you are all
sophomores in high school.
When I began teaching in 1986 my
principal gave me some textbooks, a key to my classroom and the professional
autonomy to teach what was best for that group of students. I designed lessons
to help them get better at reading, writing, speaking and listening. I got into
this profession to help students become a better version of themselves, to help
them find a way to be informed citizens of this country. To give them a voice.
And for the first fifteen years that's what I did..
And then No Child Left Behind
came. . .and things began to change.
Before NCLB, I did my best with
each student, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Sometimes I was the
very best teacher for a student, and sometimes I was the worst. That is simply
the nature of the interaction between two unique human beings..
After NCLB, we were all rated by a
test. One standardized test determined whether my students were successes or
failures, and whether they attended a good school or a failing school.
And now, after Race to the Top,
that same test will be used to determine whether or not a teacher deserves to
lose her job or get a raise.
This latest proposal by Martinez
to offer merit pay to the “best” teachers is particularly offensive. For the
entire 27 years I taught, I always did my best. I used every method I came
across that I thought would work to help my students. I never held back. I
never said, “Well, if they just paid me more to be successful then I would use
this cool idea to teach my students.”
Setting aside all the studies that
show extrinsic rewards, like merit pay, do not work for intellectual
activities; or that teachers are not puppies who will roll over if they know
they will earn a biscuit for doing so; how is Martinez going to determine these
exemplary teachers who deserve to make more money?
She will use her new teacher
evaluation plan to measure this. A plan that relies 50% on the Value Added
Method which is such a confusing and complicated method even scientists from
Sandia Labs couldn't figure it out. AND, it is based exclusively on
standardized test scores.
My husband taught special
education for 18 years, and is now in a new position teaching industrial arts.
He is creating a new Power Mechanics class as well as teaching metals and
woodworking. He goes to work at 7 am and comes home at 5 pm every day, then
goes back and works some more every weekend. He just won a grant to combine his
students with the AP Physics students to build hydrogen fuel cells. College
students have heard about this class and want to take it.
Will any of this be reflected on his
evaluation? No. Instead he will be ranked based on the school's test scores in
reading and math, over which he has absolutely no control. Oh, and on whether
or not he uses his leave days. (Which is why he is not here with me today)
If I were reading about this press
conference in the newspapers, especially the ABQ paper, I would probably read
Skandera's reply about how sad it is that I am clinging to the failed status
quo.
So, to paraphrase the Princess
Bride She keeps using that word but I don't think it means what
she thinks it means.
The “status quo” is continuing to
use standardized tests to measure students, teachers and schools. Standardized
tests date back to the Industrial Revolution as an easy way to evaluate large
numbers of children quickly. The earliest version of the machine-graded bubble
test dates to 1936. Horace Mann introduced the concept of using exams in the
1800's to collect “objective information about the quality of teaching and
learning in urban schools, monitor the quality of instruction, and compare
schools and teachers within each school.”
The “status quo” is ignoring the
poverty which has plagued our students in New Mexico for decades. Study after
study show that the only thing standardized tests accurately measure is the socio
economic level of the parents. And New Mexico ranks at the bottom of the nation
for child welfare.
The “status quo”, at least under
this administration, is spending millions of our education dollars on out of
state corporations. Heck, out of country corporations. Since Pearson gets so
much of our money and they are a multinational corporation headquartered in
London.
And finally, the “status quo” is
assuming that because teachers work with young people, that we are too stupid
to know what should be done.
Last year I was forced to step
back and take a hard look at my job. I remembered why I had gone into teaching,
to help students get better at reading, writing, speaking and listening; to help them find a way to be informed
citizens of this country; To give them a voice. And I asked myself if I was
still able to do that.
I realized the answer was no. I
counted up the amount of time spent testing and preparing students for more
tests to see if they were ready to take the next test. And I came up with 8
weeks. We spent forty days on testing instead of learning.
I couldn't do that any more. I
moved to the university where, at least for now, I can still help students be
the very best versions of themselves they can possibly be.
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment