Anthony Cody heard recently from a teacher who applied for a job in a new district. The teacher was told that he must take a standardized test that was designed to predict whether he was likely to produce higher student test score. The test was really bad.
The teacher writes:
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ok, let’s stop the stupidity. NO test can predict whether a teacher can produce higher student test scores.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ron Huberman. Nuff said.
LikeLike
Okay, but as edu-scams multiply, public schools have to get better at not being ripped off. You can probably forget about any “regulation”- it’s every man for himself out there.
Why was this purchased?
“My understanding is that Teacher Match is an LLC started by a former police officer in Chicago because he is “very concerned about unqualified teachers” in the schools. So he decided to gather a secret group of investors/finance industry executives together to develop this test (since those are the people most knowledgeable and most concerned about the crisis with incompetent teachers ruining our education system!). They charge tens of thousands to schools/districts to use their system that they claim is proven effective by data that they can’t share. And they are presenters at conferences that cater to investors looking at how to get into lucrative public education markets.”
Public schools are huge buyers. They should be in the driver’s seat. They don’t have to buy into every garbage fad that comes down the pike. Say “no”. To something. Once.
LikeLike
“. . . public schools have to get better at not being ripped off. ”
You’re expecting public school adminimals to be able to critically analyze these sorts of things???
Yep, I’ve got some white sand beach ocean front property over at Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri for sale cheaply.
LikeLike
If it’s so easy to predict performance through a standardized test, then there should be a standardized test for our politicians. They are government workers who receive our tax money to represent us. Imagine…”The following senators received a ‘failing’ score on the state politics test. They are therefore banned from running for office for life.”
LikeLike
There’d be no one left in Congress.
Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing….
LikeLike
They just spout these slogans with no thought process at all:
“Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed legislation Thursday that will lead to an overhaul of the state’s high school graduation requirements, aiming to make high school more relevant to the working world and giving students who want to start a career after high school more alternatives to fulfill requirements.
“Our high schools don’t work the way they should any more. They were built for the Industrial Revolution,” McAuliffe said, noting that the Industrial Age has ended. “We now live in a 21st-century economy. Our students deserve much better and I know that our high schools can do so much more than they’ve done.”
He’s talking about vocational education- job training. There’s nothing at all new about that- it came out of the industrial revolution.
I know very few of them have ever stooped to lower themselves to wage work, but why do they think vocational education is new? It’s old. Our vo-tech high school was built in 1957. It’s been running at capacity since then.
LikeLike
Vo-tech was recognized by the federal government with funding in 1917, to meet the needs of manufacturers for labor with skills.
LikeLike
“Identifying Good Teachers”
Tarot cards and crystal balls
Reading palms in shopping malls
These will sort the teachers out
Let you tell the good from lout
Teacher test is so passé
Psychic is Reformer way
LikeLike
This is another example how opportunists jump on the money making education bandwagon. Perhaps this police officer exploited a money making gap, but the districts that employ his service must be bonkers.
In Philly all the substitutes were fired last year, and a third party was brought in to hire substitutes at a cut rate price. What happened was a disaster of vacancies, and classes without teachers! These examples are what happens when those from the business world insert themselves into education for profit. What is in the best interest of students takes a backseat to profit and cost cutting! Education becomes less about students, and more about money.
LikeLike
I cannot speak to this test which seems idiotic, but I can speak to Applitrak, which is a black hole. Upload your paper work, your essays, your work history, your credentials, your reference letters, etc., and never hear from anyone because the jobs have already been filled. True.
LikeLike