In a room packed with teachers from District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), Arne Duncan took on a tough subject this week: testing. Describing anxieties he has heard from teachers who fear new tests being used too soon in teacher evaluations, Duncan announced that any state that would like more time may have another year before tying scores on brand new tests to educator evaluations. "We think many states will want to take that [time] pressure off of teachers," he said. Later he reminded them, "How you use this year is critical."
During a panel discussion that followed, humanities teacher Rochelle Collins expressed relief that DCPS has decided to take a year before using scores from new PARCC assessments on teacher evaluations. She said educators in the district "are really fortunate to have a year to have that flexibility" to work on the "learning curve" that inevitably comes with new standards and assessments.
Echoing what he has heard from teachers over the last six months, Duncan also spoke about frustration with how tests have been layered on top of one another by states and districts, leading to over-testing. Speaking about the students at Jefferson Academy, Duncan said, "I don't want them to spend all of their time taking tests," and he insisted that no teacher, no student, no district, and no school "should be defined by a test score."
Teaching coach Meghan Dunne agreed and said she is concerned that educators seem to be building testing systems "on the fly," with out thinking them through. DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who also spoke at the event, agreed that decisions around testing need to be made "based on thought and reason, not on rhetoric and heat."
Follow us at @AmericanNewsService on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment