How test scores are used as a political prop

03-21-2011

Guest blog by Paul Thomas/Washington Post

The news out of Washington D.C. offers evidence that calls for test-based teacher evaluations persist, ironically against the weight of evidence: “Sen. Joseph Lieberman is drafting a school reform bill that would tie a portion of federal education dollars to a requirement that states implement robust teacher evaluations, with student test scores being a major factor in rating teacher performance.” Politicians have long used funding to mandate policy–often with little logic (consider the use of highway funds to force raising the drinking age to 21 under Ronald Reagan). In short, politicians often fail us because the power of the purse strings allows inexpert politicians to drive public policies regardless of the available data or the expertise of those practicing the fields impacted. What frustrates and even angers educators the most about the current calls for accountability and teacher evaluations based on student outcomes–specifically test scores–is that those calls come alongside praise the school system in Finland and other countries that in fact have succeeded without increasing testing or linking teacher evaluations and pay to student test scores. (more...)

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