History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
5 reasons parents should oppose evaluating teachers on test scores
- 06-06-2011
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Guest blog by Carol Burris and Kevin Welner/Washington Post
The 1988 film “Stand and Deliver” portrayed Jaime Escalante’s inspirational teaching of AP Calculus to his East Los Angeles students. Escalante instilled ganas, the desire to succeed, in high school students, many of whom had never before known academic success. Viewers witnessed Escalante and his students teaming up against the test; it was important to them to show the world what they had done together. Now imagine that Mr. Escalante’s appeal to his students had been, “I need you to get at least a ‘3’ on this exam because I don’t want to lose my job.” Would his students have responded with such dedication if they knew that Escalante’s motives were personal rather than selfless? Probably not. But how many teachers wouldn’t think in those terms if their jobs really did depend on students’ scores? Evaluating teachers based on their students’ test scores is the newest education-policy fad. (more...)
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