Re:Cheating our children: Suspicious school test scores acro...
by aestetix on Sunday March 25, 2012 @05:09PM
(#3753822)
Actually, I'd suggest the tests only reveal when the teacher stops teaching to the test. Also, it's really not fair to hold the teacher's job ransom and say that if they don't teach the way the test demands, they should lose their job. How about giving them the freedom to teach based on what they feel is good for their students?
Re:Cheating our children: Suspicious school test scores acro...
by DanBC on Sunday March 25, 2012 @05:16PM
(#3753844)
> How about giving them the freedom to teach based on what they feel is good for their students?
The controversy about teaching children to read using either 'whole words' or 'phonics' (and sub-forms of phonics) is a nice example of some teachers not working to an evidence base and causing harm to their students.
Re:Cheating our children: Suspicious school test scores acro...
by saulrh on Sunday March 25, 2012 @05:45PM
(#3753941)
Even if they aren't teaching from an evidence base and from proper research, they're better at defining requirements than the legislators simply because they're the ones in the classroom and observing their students' progress. I assume you're a programmer, so I'll reframe the question: would you rather design your APIs yourself or have the CEO of your large corporation do it for you?
Again, how do you know objectives were being met? Please clearly state your evaluation procedure.
...complained bitterly about how hard it was to teach both the stuff that mattered and the stuff that was on the test.
I've made similar complaints - Calc syllabi suck. Too many stupid algebra tricks, too little conceptual reasoning. This is a problem with the syllabus, not the test.
All the test does is reveals when you stop doing your job and teach whatever you feel like, rather than what you are being paid to teach.