Making the Grade as a Teacher

I remember my dad as a Little League coach. I don't think our team was that great, but it didn't matter. It was all about fun. We would practice drills and techniques, and all became better players through the activities.

Today there is so much talk about teacher accountability. It sure does sound great on paper. We rate high schools based on their performance on state tests, graduation rates, and the percentage that go on to college. Why do we do that? It's easy! It's quantitative. It makes sense numerically. You can even plot it on a line graph.

If we rate schools, some want to rate teachers. My question is: How? When the state changes the cut scores for who knows why making year to year comparisons inconclusive? How about when your classroom population (and thus performance levels) change year to year?

If we base the measure of an educator solely on the numbers, we miss out on the qualitative attributes. A child that learns to feel good about himself or herself because of that teacher. A child that believes in themselves because of that teacher. The child that makes a great deal of progress but is still below grade level. The child that opens up socially and begins to make close friends. The child that learns to work as a team with his or her friends or classmates. The child that smiles and looks forward to school. I could go on and on. Those don't show up on a data report, and you would be hard pressed to crunch them in a data warehouse, but they are as valid as any other performance indicator.

I also wonder about something else. I am an elementary classroom teacher, so let's say that some kind of standardized test in the subjects that I teach (see the previous blog "Generally Speaking") would be used to gauge my effectiveness. For secondary teachers, they would use state tests or Regents for their respective subjects. What about guidance counselors? Are they exempt? Are they the ones responsible for graduation rates and continuing education rates? What about special area teachers like Art, Music, Physical Education, etc? Should we see how we their kids draw, sing, and how many push ups they can do? It sounds silly, but it makes me think!

What about support services? How would one rate the effectiveness of an ESL teacher? A reading teacher? Speech teacher? Occupational therapist? What about resource room teachers? Do they share the accolades or blame for their assigned students with the classroom or subject area teachers? Are they exempt? Too many gray areas for me. You can't just hold one group of educators accountable and not go near the others. It simply isn't fair.

If that were the case and I was being judged by student performance, why would I want a class of anything but the higher achievers? For the past few years, I have been the classroom teacher part of an inclusion and now a collaborative coteach class. Should I not want this assignment because of students that might be performing below grade level? What about if they cannot make what some power that be considers "adequate yearly progress"???

Of course not. I watch in awe as my kids succeed. They do it in so many ways, and not always is there a numerical grade to show for. I don't want a class of 'high achievers'... I want students ready to learn, create, and have fun. I want them to smile whenever they walk in the door and feel valuable as they contribute throughout the day. I want students that take risks and stand tall even when they fall short of their goals. I want students that come back after they have left my classroom just to say hello. I want students that recall fondly memories and achievements that happened within the walls of our classroom. Does that show up on a line graph?

Teaching is a great career and the rewards are so unbelievable. I get to work with some of the greatest kids out there. I get to work with some of the greatest education professionals in the world, and I am very grateful. The challenges that we face we must face together without playing the blame game. If we are to really prepare our students for the world of tomorrow, perhaps we need to finally stop pointing fingers and placing blame. Perhaps we need to start a real dialogue involving teachers, administrators, parents, and maybe even some politicians to figure out what skills are needed, what is outdated, and the resources that need to get there.