Are teachers sidestepping annual testing with ridiculous excuses and their past achievements?

Question

I have her some good arguments from the women, but I really want to hear from the men. We are well informed on the teaching conferences, and the extra so-called money that they have to provide for teaching our children. But once again, we can see that some of them are sidestepping the question, even to the point of insulting others. No wonder why our children have so low self-esteem and low test scores. We are sure that some teachers are attending conferences and later holding seminars at teacher in-service to present to the teachers that did not attend. Let us make ourselves very clear it is not about the teachers, because we see that they are trying to standout in a profession that is meant to teach our children. Our children is what it is all about we don't want to see teachers fired, we just want to know how much our teachers know, especially when our children are failing standard state test. If it insults you, I am sure that you have insulted others, annual testing will happen

Answer 1

im a student, and all i know is that there are plenty of teachers who cant or dont teach. i sure wouldnt mind seeing better teachers. i think it is simply too easy to become an English teacher here. almost anyone can become a teacher

Answer 2

As far as testing yearly for core content knowledge.... it's not that teachers don't think they could pass. We just feel that it would be a waste of our time and money (because guess who would be handed the testing fees... and most tests like that cost anywhere from $50 to $150 each subject), to prove something we already have.

And if you think those state tests for the kids were the teachers' ideas, you are sadly mistaken. They are the product of federal and state legislative and executive decisions, driven by lobbying from test-making companies.

The evaulation of how a school does with these tests is like taking all the heights of adults, and then demanding that all adults grow to be as tall as the "average" person. All children learn at different rates... and "grade-level" skills are based on what the "average" child can learn. Half the kids will be slower than that, and half faster. NCLB wants schools to take the slower half and make them learn faster than their natural ability.

Of course, if teachers "fail" in this, then they can be nicely scapegoated so that the Republicans can cut education out of the federal budget.....

As teachers, we already evaluate our students' progress through our pre- and post-tests, written samples, and observation. The LAW says that kids pass a class at 60% mastery... instead of the state tests we could raise that passing grade to 80% mastery. More kids would repeat grades, but kids would also actually know the content before moving on.

The responsibility for ensuring that veteran teachers are "highly" qualified falls on the principal, the school district, and the teachers themselves. Each year we go through observations, a Professional Development Plan, and an end-of-year evaluation conference with our principals.

If you are so hot under the collar about this because you feel one or more of your own child's teachers don't have adequate content-area knowledge, is to challenge their annual evaluations from their principals... speak to the principal first, and then if you're still not happy with the results take it to Human Resources for your district.

Here are the professional quality controls in my state (New Mexico):

Taken before licensure and/or to build additional certifications:

http://www.nmta.nesinc.com/

Licensure requirements:

http://www.teachnm.org/

http://www.ped.state.nm.us/div/ais/lic/options.html

Professional Development summary:

http://www.teachnm.org/prof_dev_opportunities/prof_dev_opportunities.htm

Licensure preparation at one NM university:

http://education.nmsu.edu/departments/administrative/advisement/tep.html

State accountability:

http://www.ped.state.nm.us/div/acc.assess/accountability/index.html

Answer 3

I am a student, and a girl, so I'm obviously not your target audience. But I believe there is too much standardized testing. Many teachers teach the test instead of teaching students what they need to know to succeed next year. I go to a school where you have to test to get in, and if you get two F's in one quarter you flunk out. Everyone passes the tests, that's not a saying, it's a statistic. So in my school, there's no need for them. When tenth graders are required to pass the Ohio Graduation Test, there's no need to make them take a proficiency test. When we take proficiency tests, no one studies, or cares. Students try to take as long as possible to get out of going to class. Some people fall asleep during the tests because the work is so elementary.
We need to encourage teachers to teach what is needed for the students to succeed in the next year, not just to get high scores.

Answer 4

Probably. Most anyone that can get out of taking a test, will.

"I have heard some..."

"such low self-esteem"

"our children ARE what it is all about..."

The whole paragraph is hard to read, but I'm not an English teacher. But I think in trying to engage with teachers you should check your grammar and sentence structure.

Answer 5

Beleive you me, if I could sidestep annual testing I would. Any teacher, or administrator would agree that we would trade 6 days of instruction for 6 days of testing. Standardized testing is ludicrous. Do you know how I can side step them.

Answer 6

many of them

Answer 7

no