Here is a puzzlement (as the king said in “The King and I”).
Is there a right way to do something that is inherently wrong?
I think that it is wrong to judge “teacher quality” by student test scores.
Doing so undermines the quality of education.
It narrows the curriculum only to what is tested.
It encourages districts and states to attempt to test subjects that cannot be assessed by standardized tests.
It encourages teaching to the tests.
It incentivizes schools, districts, and states to game the system, and many have developed clever ways to inflate their scores.
No existing test was designed for this purpose, and test publishers always caution that tests should be used only for the purpose for which they were designed.
Some desperate or unscrupulous educators will cheat to get rewards or avoid sanctions.
Campbell’s Law holds true: “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.”
Thus, the more we use high-stakes testing, the more we corrupt what is measured. Every teacher, every administrator focuses on the scores to the exclusion of more important issues, such as the engagement of students in the arts, the health and well-being of children, and the soundness of the curriculum. They do this because their job depends on doing it.
I am not opposed to testing, if the tests are used diagnostically, to help students and teachers. I am opposed to testing that has high stakes attached to it, that rewards and punishes teachers, principals, and schools based on test scores. What we now call “accountability” is a synonym for “punishment.” I think that is wrong. Such “accountability” warps education, and I oppose it.
As I read discussions about school improvement strategies, I am struck by the obsession with data, the imposition of rubrics and targets, etc. that has taken the place of conversations about students and curriculum, about the joy of learning and love of the subject for its own sake, not for a test score.
And yet intelligent people continue to slice and dice the methods for using data to judge teacher quality.
They think there is a right way to do it. I don’t.
I think that the truly great teachers awaken a love of learning in their students. The truly great teachers reach into their students hearts and souls and change their lives. Truly great teachers don’t think about test scores. They think about making a difference in the lives of children.
I don’t think there will ever be a test or a method that measures what matters most.
I believe that the current era of test obsession will eventually collapse. It will collapse because it demoralizes teachers and has other pernicious effects. Students know it. Teachers know it. many administrators know it but are afraid to say so (I honor those who do say so and defend principle). Parents are beginning to see it. Sooner or later, those who sit in legislative halls in states and nations will understand that they are squandering money, but even worse, they are harming students and ruining American education.
That day will come. It is inevitable. And when it does, we will have the large task of reconstructing American education in ways that make sense, that restore honor to the profession of teaching, and that are truly educative for all children.
