For Immediate Release
UFT: DOE "misguided" to seek to use test scores to judge teachers
Jan 21, 2008 5:51 PM
The New York Times reported on January 21 that the city Department of Education has embarked on a secretive pilot program in which 2,500 teachers at 140 city public schools are being measured without their knowledge on how much their students improve on annual standardized tests. DOE officials said that while they have yet to determine how to use the data, they acknowledge that it could eventually factor into decisions about teacher tenure or as a major consideration in performance evaluations and bonuses.
UFT President Randi Weingarten fired off the following response:
“These standardized tests were never designed to be used to evaluate teachers individually. As we’ve said before, school and teacher accountability must be based on multiple indicators that make sense to teachers, resonate with parents and are fair, accurate and transparent. Secretly collecting test score data and basing teacher evaluations on them run counter to any of these principles.
“The data being collected by the DOE in this secretive pilot cannot isolate and identify the effect or influence of any individual teacher, and no statistical Band-Aid can change that. Even the experts agree on that. Neither the law nor collective bargaining agreements ever anticipated data being used this way, and we intend to use both to stop such a misguided use. Imagine principals dictating to teachers who their students are, how many they must teach and what curriculum to use and then evaluating them on standardized test scores!
“Most important, this is a terrible thing to do to kids. It risks turning our school system into Test Prep, Inc., with educators doing nothing else but preparing students for standardized math and English tests and denying kids the balanced and well-rounded education they need. In addition, it undermines the commitment to collaboration and working together on a school level that was codified in the School-Wide Bonus program. In sum, there are so many educational and technical flaws in this concept that I find it shocking that the school system is even considering it. The United Federation of Teachers will fight this on all grounds – educational, legal and moral.”
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