In my post on whether Pennsylvania is the worst state, my original language referred to “teacher evacuation,” instead of “teacher evaluation.”
I fixed my typo, but as I did, I realized that this was a meaningful slip.
Is “teacher evaluation” in fact “teacher evacuation”?
I keep hearing stories of excellent teachers who are retiring early because they don’t want to teach to lousy tests.
So, maybe I should have left the typo as accurate.
Maybe “teacher evaluation” is indeed “teacher evacuation.”
It makes room for the new college graduates who want to try teaching for a year or two, then find their “real” job.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Sometimes a typo is just a typo.”
Not this time …
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Gotta Love Diane Ravitch!! Even when she makes a mistake it is profound.
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A story for you. My friend teaches elementary ed in a state that has “high stakes” testing. They are instructed to cover particular areas in math that will be covered in the test (but not told exactly what will be covered on the test). So she dutifully does just that and teaches fractions.The day of the test she is not even allowed to look at the test booklet, to do so and have administration find out would mean she’s lost her job. The kids, of course are not allowed to ask for help. They do anyway. As she is telling them she can’t help them, she LOOKS at the test and sees a whole page of questions on decimals (not in the math curriculum for this level, not covered). How tidy. If she points out the mistake in the test, she’d be fired, if she doesn’t, the kids answers are all wrong. I’m withholding her name and the state because she’s still teaching but I thought you’d be interested in another example of how states have teachers over a barrel.
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What Shirley is describing is something out of Kafka, 1984 or Animal Farm. Teachers are being ground into a fine dust. Here in NJ, Christie has stirred up the masses against teachers’ supposed too rich salaries, supposed Cadillac health care plans and mythical gold plated pensions. Too many New Jerseyites are buying into all this anti-teacher propganda, it’s appalling.
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Here in Ohio many devoted, highly effective educators are plotting their way to retirement as soon as possible. Even my tax accountant made this comment, “Many of my teacher clients are asking how they can get out of education and not go bankrupt.” Many of us feel we still have a lot to give to our students and their parents and our profession, but the bullying on a national, statewide and local level of those of us in education has been demoralizing. We are forced to teach to the test even if we believe it is developmentally inappropriate, creates robotic students who must have a choice of a,b,c or d, it destroys innovative teaching methods(mandating we use only certain vocabulary which the children will encounter in a high stakes test) and basically takes the joy out learning and teaching. As my user name says , I have 24 years of experience and next year will ring in my 25th year and be my first possibility of retiring. I will retire even though I look around my classroom at my immense book collection, multitudes of “fun” learning games I made and think of how much it means to me to be an important part of the development of young children.But I will move on and use my talents and energy elsewhere.
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Evacuation is right! So, so many! What a way to make a typo state what’s real!
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When I read that, I wondered if it was a typo. Then I just laughed at it because it worked either way! Clever brain!
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LOL Yes indeed it was! That is how we have been feeling in New Orleans since Katrina!
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