My students always did very well on the Advanced Placement Language and Composition test; the conclusion one could take from such data was that I was a very successful teacher.

That was nonsense!

I believe that I was successful and effective, but the data from such tests did not reveal that. Using the results of data from such standardized tests to assess teacher effectiveness is a cancer to academic reform and it must be eliminated from the entire teacher evaluation process.

When teachers buy into this system and see their own value determined by such tests, we can say that the cancer has metastasized. The words “standardized tests” and “teacher evaluation” should not be equated.

Teachers and their UFT representatives need to be very clear on this issue: The data accrued from standardized tests do not reveal whether students are learning from their teachers. What they do is create the illusion or pretense of objectivity.

Larry Hoffner, retired