Education Nation needs to do a piece on the new evaluation system in Miami Dade county. Part of the blame lies with the Florida legislature and Governor Rick Scott. The other part of the blame lies with Obama and his "Race to the Top" funds. Teachers in Miami will now have 50% of their evalulation based on how students perform on the state FCAT reading test. Most students don't teach an FCAT tested subject and the students they actually teach will have no impact on 50% of their evaluation or hopes of ever getting a "bonus" based on performace pay. In the name of "accountability" we are holding teachers responsible for test scores of students they do not teach! I consider myself a "highly effective" teacher. I asked a former student how his reading score could have gone done after taking my Advanced Placement world history class, his response "The test was boring. I fell asleep and the proctor didn't wake me up." This is what teacher's careers are riding on! Our nation is spending millions of dollars developing and implementing these tests and the students are drooling all over them! We need to put the soul back in education. We've become "data driven" robots.

Additionally, the budget cuts have packed Florida classrooms with over 60 students despite the class size amendment of 25 students in core classes. The state of public education and the teaching profession are going down the toilet thanks to "reform" efforts on both the part of Republicans and Democrats.

The new law in Florida is going to have extreme negative effects on public education. The politicians are unaware of the repercussions. I am a teacher in Jacksonville, Florida. For those unfamiliar with the policy mentioned by this post, the entire state of Florida is now changing it's pay scale. By 2014, 50% of our salaries will be based on student performance.

There are so many flaws with this concept.  I spoke of these issues to a state politician in person before the bill was passed, and raised the issue of not having a fair method to create a pay system for all teachers. For example, a teacher who teaches high school drafting, resource teachers who teach art, music, P.E., etc. He told me that they would pass the bill and the Department of Education would figure out the testing. So basically they would make a decision affecting the lives of all teachers and students, and then hand the responsibility of implementation over to someone else.

Here is one ethical implication of the new law. I am a highly qualified reading teacher. However, now I teach math. So 50% of my pay will be based on students' growth in FCAT math scores from the previous grade to the current grade.

During my instructional day, if I have a student who desperately needs help as a reader, I could help this child during Response to Intervention time. The best thing for the child is to receive remediation in reading. However, when half a teacher's salary is based on gains in math, chances are the teacher is more likely to remediate this child in math.

In short, it's dangerous to mix salaries with student gains. This is an experiment we can not afford to conduct when children's educations are involved.

It is beyond me how teachers can be evaluated on student performance when student performance is not necessarily controlled by the teacher, but by other factors influencing the life of a student. My district in upstate NY is not yet basing our salaries on student performance, but I agree that a student's education is now in peril based on the emphasis that will be placed on certain subjects dependent upon how teachers are evaluated. These new laws are half baked at best. I love my job, but these will be the things that will make me look forward to retiring in a few years. We need people with courage and common sense to stand up for what is right. Non-educators are often well meaning, but do not really have a good grip on reality in education.

To add to this, I just wanted to point out that now in Miami-Dade all students have to take some type of end of year test.  Students in Kindergarten - 2nd grade will be taking the SAT-10, 3rd - 8th grade students will be taking the FCAT, high school students will be taking specific subject tests.  This is what every child in a public Florida school will have to look forwards to once 2014 arrives.

During the time that the law was being rushed through both the Florida House and Senate Floors, I, along with many of my fellow educators took to the streets to protest and inform the public about what the implication of the law would be.  It seemed like the majority of the public did not really care about 5 and 6 year olds being forced to take a test to determine their teacher's sallary.  They did not care that teachers have families and must find a way to make a living.  The majority of the people believed what they heard in the media and not the real truth about what will really happen.

It is time for Education Reform to come from EDUCATORS that are actively engaged in the process and not politicians looking for votes. 

High stakes testing is the one of the most damaging movements I have observed in my thirty-plus years  of teaching.  There was a time when we, the educators, were at least occasionally consulted as the professionals. Since NCLB, the 'experts' have become a corporate America trying to tout education as a research based science (the same people ironically, who refute the science of global warming). Because of  this and the attempt at making education a profit based business, we are leaving more and more children behind.  The reform that is needed is to give educational decisions back to the real experts: the educators with their experience and expertise, coupled with the input and support from families they serve.

I have had the pleasure of aministering some of the state mandated tests. These tests are a psychometrician's nightmare. The have poor validty because the questions are written in such a way that it is more of a measure of how well a student deciphers the question rather than one's grasp of ideas or critical thinking. We talk about alternative assessments in schools but do not apply this principle in state testing. Who writes these test questions and format??

 Here in my district, we implement a test based on national standards from 1994.  The district paid a lot of  money to purchase the rights to this set of exams in theory they are to help with state exams.  However, how helpful is it for kids and teachers when the standards are 7 years out of date.

By the way, the reason that students aren't doing well is because teachers are having to teach to a test, a test they are not allowed to see or know about, instead of teaching their area of expertise in depth like we used to do.

Hallelujah!  The message is loud and clear, let the testing madness end!  I think every teacher and administrator in America have accepted the fact that this testing issue is sheer madness.  The students aren't learning a thing.  As we are forced to teach to a test, the concept of achievement becomes null and void!  I have written a book that needs to be heard and read!  Let our voices ring out loud to the American government and its constituents that NCLB has to be revamped with our input!

www.todneyharris.com

www.friesenpress.com/bookstore

http://therealworld-teachermant.blogspot.com/

I totally agree with my colleagues that high-stakes testing, and using it to evaluate teachers, is madness.  I also teach in Florida.  I see two additional issues with those already discussed regarding the testing.

1.  It has created such a high pressure environment that students learn to hate school by early elementary grades.  We have very effectively extinguished the curiousity and love of learning that children initially bring into the classroom.  Our dropout rate is soaring as a result.

2.  Students have been tested so much that they have "test fatigue".  By the time they reach high school, they "blow it off", "Christmas tree" and fail to take any test seriously enough to do their best.

High-stakes testing is hurting our schools and our children.  The only ones profiting are the test making companies!  I hear the concern from Florida teachers.  Now in Tennessee, state tests scores will count for part of the student's grade.  In Georgia, we all know about the cheating scandal.  In SC, there are multiple OCR complaints against school districts that discriminated against special education students in the name of high-stakes testing.  There is a protest at the SC statehouse on Oct 3rd.

Join the national protest against high-stakes testing at unitedoptout(dot)com.  Sign the petition in your state or create one if not available in your state yet.  Parents and educators need to speak up!

Just wanted to let people know that the website unitedoptout.com has been hacked (conspiracies anyone?).  Are there other websites we can go to that address the same issue regarding the testing insanity and movements against it?