Wednesday, December 18, 2013

New Mexico education secretary pushing teacher evaluation by student test scores

Missouri's Chris Nicastro is not the only education commissioner coming under fire, according to an article in today's New York Times.

Hanna Skandera, New Mexico's secretary of education, is pushing the same sort of nonsense that some of our Missouri legislators are backing- counting as much as 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation on student scores on standardized tests.

If what you are wanting is to see teachers teaching to the test and education becoming torture for children instead of a pathway to success, then this is the formula to use:


“This is a train wreck,” said Stephanie Ly, the president of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, which filed two unsuccessful lawsuits to block the evaluations. “It’s set up for our students and teachers to fail.”

Ms. Skandera said she was mindful of the concerns. But she said the state was obligated to use the evaluations as part of a waiver on requirements in the No Child Left Behind law that the Obama administration granted.

“We’ll get a rich picture of student achievement over time,” she said, noting that a student’s growth would be measured over three years.

Educators, however, contend that Ms. Skandera has shunned other valid ways to judge teachers.

Kathy Korte, a member of the Albuquerque school board, said Ms. Skandera had refused to consider giving more weight to classroom observations. She also rejected the idea of starting the evaluations gradually, Ms. Korte said, even though districts were already burdened with carrying out new Common Core standards for math and English.

“To have the door shut in my face constantly is arrogant,” Ms. Korte said, “and it shows a great disrespect to those working in the classroom.”



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