Mills75 wrote:As an educator, I find myself squarely behind the south end of this northbound jackass called "No Child Left Behind." What people don't realize is that educators didn't design NCLB, politicians did. NCLB rewards schools that succeed by penalizing schools that don't. How is success or failure determined? By standardized tests. What's more, educators don't want to teach to a test, but we (both teachers and administrators) are being forced to, forced to by the politicians and, to a large degree, parents. The politicians have decided that these standardized tests are the only measure of performance worth looking at.
As for fishin's comments on the integrity of teachers and administrators: it shows a definite lack of understanding of how school districts operate. Unless you're self-employed you have a boss. If your boss orders you to do your job differently, then you do your job differently regardless of whether or not it's a better way to do the job (unless your boss's orders are illegal, pose a threat of physical harm, or violate your contract). If you don't, you're fired. Teachers have bosses--administrators. Administrators have bosses--the school board. The school board in turn answers to parents (primarily, because parents are the most likely to vote in school board elections), and so on. School districts aren't choosing to teach to a test, NCLB is forcing them to. If my boss tells me to do my job differently, I do it differently because I want to remain employed just like anyone else. (And let me tell you that most of the directives given to teachers from on high result in less and less time for students.)
I have been thinking ofthis post for several days. It points to something about the critics of education. They scream the word accountability. Actually, this is nothing new. Accountability first surfaced in the 1980s. The people who brought up the notion of accountability then were not the same people who use it today.
There is a contradiction between standards issued by people outside of the profession and the need for excellence within the profession.
To become a teacher, one must have at least one college degree. Most teachers today have two or three.
To get a teaching job, a candidate has to submit official copies of his transcripts, a resume and three letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are passe in business.
Sometimes, multiple interviews are done. This is a standard in business, particularly at the upper levels. This is fair because most teachers are educated beyond most business applicants, despite lower earnings.
Sometimes, a candidate is made to teach a class at the school to which he has applied. Sometimes, administrators from the new school come to observe him at the old. Sometimes, a candidate is made to submit lesson plans.
Then, these same people, who have educated themselves to perform a job they view as a calling, must face the criticism of functional illiterates who happen to get themselves elected to petty political posts.
That's life in the big city.
