http://gothamschools.org/2009/12/01/conflict-could-exlude-this-years-test-scores-from-tenure-decisions/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://gothamschools.org/2009/12/01/conflict-could-exlude-this-years-test-scores-from-tenure-decisions/comment-page-1/#comment-248628 Bryan Johnston Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:52:09 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=28354#comment-248628 My name is Bryan Johnston and I am a high school teacher in southern Westchester County. I would like to comment on the idea of standardized tests and their use in determining tenure in NYC schools. The whole idea of high stakes testing in my opinion runs contrary to good teaching practices. And when these high stakes test scores are used to determine tenure I believe that that will bring out the worst in teaching practices. I feel that when the main goal of a class is to have the students pass a standardized test at the end of the year than mostly what the students learn will be test taking skills. Students will be taught facts, names and dates. They will be taught little tricks to help them remember specific answers and they will be taught by rote learning. None of these things will help a student to truly understand the topic. At the best students will leave the class with a very basic knowledge of the subject and in the worst case the students will forget everything they crammed in to their heads for the test in a couple of weeks. All of this runs contrary to the belief that students need to be able to think critically and be able synthesize what they learn now with subjects they take in the future. When we teach to the test each piece of information comes to the student in a vacuum, completely isolated from other facts that if taught in a holistic way can give the students the kind of big picture understanding everyone says they want them to have. If we tie the students test scores to tenure or merit pay then teachers, out of self preservation, will be forced to teach to the test. There job will change from being someone who helps students achieve understanding to someone who simply pushes information and students through the system. I also believe that if tenure is tied to test scores that we will begin to see test score inflation, cheating, and the dumbing down of the tests themselves. All of this will be done in the name of self preservation but in the end it will be the students who suffer as they will be unprepared for college and the workforce. My name is Bryan Johnston and I am a high school teacher in southern Westchester County. I would like to comment on the idea of standardized tests and their use in determining tenure in NYC schools. The whole idea of high stakes testing in my opinion runs contrary to good teaching practices. And when these high stakes test scores are used to determine tenure I believe that that will bring out the worst in teaching practices.
I feel that when the main goal of a class is to have the students pass a standardized test at the end of the year than mostly what the students learn will be test taking skills. Students will be taught facts, names and dates. They will be taught little tricks to help them remember specific answers and they will be taught by rote learning. None of these things will help a student to truly understand the topic. At the best students will leave the class with a very basic knowledge of the subject and in the worst case the students will forget everything they crammed in to their heads for the test in a couple of weeks. All of this runs contrary to the belief that students need to be able to think critically and be able synthesize what they learn now with subjects they take in the future. When we teach to the test each piece of information comes to the student in a vacuum, completely isolated from other facts that if taught in a holistic way can give the students the kind of big picture understanding everyone says they want them to have.
If we tie the students test scores to tenure or merit pay then teachers, out of self preservation, will be forced to teach to the test. There job will change from being someone who helps students achieve understanding to someone who simply pushes information and students through the system. I also believe that if tenure is tied to test scores that we will begin to see test score inflation, cheating, and the dumbing down of the tests themselves. All of this will be done in the name of self preservation but in the end it will be the students who suffer as they will be unprepared for college and the workforce.

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