The Loss of Teachers Based on Standardized Tests

The "accountability" trend has created change in the educational environment, but this change may become a significant problem. Recently reported, teachers were dismissed because their students did not progress in achievement based in large part on standardized test results and other evaluations.

I was a teacher in the Florida school system for 27 1/2 years and have seen many "plans" come and go, but the surge for accountability has persisted and is likely to continue. There are many problems with the process however. It is common for a teacher in any classroom to have a range of student ability that is at least one grade lower or one grade higher in his/her students than the actual grade that the student is presently in at the time.

It is also quite possible to have some students with a 2-4 grade level lower or higher, although not as common it still does happen. While the teacher is required to make every effort to make every student gain a year or more of progress, this may be very difficult when the teacher is teaching a specific subject that may require much past knowledge. Courses like math and English often require such prior knowledge and it becomes very difficult to teach the past information along with new information.

The amount of impact of any one teacher in any one course on the overall gain of a student in a year is difficult at best to properly evaluate. A teacher of "special-education" students may have a much more difficult time reaching a traditional year of progress.

Another problem is that teachers have paid a great deal in time and money to become teachers and they should not be tossed out too quickly. In general, help and support are given to teachers that need to improve and this help and guidance must be documented. It is rare that a teacher would go into the field of teaching actually planning to do a poor job. It is far more likely that they suddenly are faced with the realization of how difficult the process of teaching really is in this time.

Bad teachers should be removed, poor teachers should be given the opportunity to improve and this would mean real support and guidance. When I started to look for my first teaching position, I went to a school to talk to the principal about the position. This was when we had "open classrooms". There was a group of four classes in a very large open area. Some small partitions were dividing the area somewhat, but the noise and confusion was evident. I asked the principal when they would need me to start and I was shocked when the principal looked at his watch and said, "How about in one hour."

I did not take the position and later found one where I had my own classroom. As we put more and more pressure on the system it is likely that less people will want to become teachers and we may find many more leaving the profession. We could find ourselves with a very accountable system with nowbody to hold accountable.