LIVE & LEARN: True Accountability?

Posted

liveandlearnlogoMerriam Webster defines "accountability" as “the quality or state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.”

Accountability in public education has drastically changed since I began teaching 15 years ago. A multiple choice standardized test given at the end of the school year is now how teachers are measured and evaluated.

Educators with common sense know that a test is not the most efficient way to determine a student’s learning, nor how effective they are as a teacher. Legislators don’t seem to understand this basic concept, and now it seems that our judicial system in Virginia is following suit.

I recently had knee replacement surgery.  The physical therapy that comes after the surgery has been extremely difficult. I admit that I haven’t always done my exercises. Sometimes my leg hurts, I’m just too busy, or I’m just too tired. Blaming the doctor and physical therapist for my lack of progress doesn’t make sense; they can’t control what I do on my own time.

So, why are teachers blamed for their students’ lack of progress when there are many factors that are out of our control?

Public education in Virginia was dealt an ugly blow recently. On Jan. 9, in Davison v. Virginia Department of Education, a Richmond Circuit Court judge ruled that the Student Growth Percentile (SGP) reports from VDOE be provided to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff has asked for the SGP reports for all school divisions in the state for the years available (2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014). Included are the names and license information of those teachers with students for whom an SGP was reported. The children’s names will not be included due to privacy issues. I’m happy that children are protected, but why are teachers not protected? Why is it okay that a teacher’s name is connected to a score?

According to the VDOE website, “A student growth percentile expresses how much progress a student has made relative to the progress of students whose achievement was similar on previous assessments. A student growth percentile complements a student’s SOL scaled score and gives his or her teacher, parents and principal a more complete picture of achievement and progress. A high growth percentile is an indicator of effective instruction, regardless of a student’s scaled score. Currently, SGP is measured for students participating in SOL testing for reading and mathematics in grades 4 – 8 and Algebra 1 through 9th grade.”

I ask again: “Why are teachers not protected from the public and the media in regards to their students’ scores?”

If I had absolute control over what my students did outside of the school day, I would have no issues with being held completely accountable for their test scores. I cannot follow 170 students home every day to make sure they study, do their homework, get enough sleep, eat breakfast or come to school every day.

Legislators in many states have recently started publishing teacher names connected with student scores. The negative consequences are disastrous and unfair for all educators. Is this fair? Are the statistics for lawyers winning or losing cases published in the media? What about doctors or dentists? Are their success and failure rates with patients published? Remember that lawyers, doctors and dentists cannot control everything that concerns a client or patient.

The Virginia Education Association (VEA), the Loudoun Education Association (LEA) and Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) are appealing this disastrous decision. I’m grateful that I belong to my professional association that is standing up and fighting against this disservice to teachers.

Why is this court decision wrong?  Why should the names of teachers not be published?

*The positive climate in a school would be undermined. Parents would begin asking for their child to be in a classroom with a teacher who had a higher SGP. Remember: teachers CANNOT control all factors relating to their students and scores!

*Ugly blogs and gossip columns would add to the vilifying of teachers. Social media has its advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, many parents and community members control blogs and social media sites that claim to help education, yet much of what is posted is often biased, wrong, and stupid.

*The SGP score is unreliable. It is a mistake to link this unreliable measure to a teacher’s name.  Really good, capable teachers will be smeared based on unreliable information. It’s wrong–for teachers and students.

*This information is part of a teacher’s personnel record. This information is not for the media to publish, nor is it acceptable to share with a parent who has an axe to grind. My personnel files are MINE only; not the media’s.

When all professions and evaluations are made public, I have no problem sharing my evaluation and SOL scores with the world.  Until then, respect what teachers do every day and stop blaming us for those myriad of factors that are out of our control.

This is an opinion column, which represents the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily represent the views of Bristow Beat, its owners, editors, contributors or sponsors. 

bristow, education, evaluating-teachers, featured, live-learn, riley-ocasey, sol, test-scores, va