Are you baffled by Florida education stats? If you are, then you are not alone.
Teachers of the year in three area counties had low scores for improving total FCAT outcomes for their students, even though their subjects were not subjects directly tested for on the FCAT.
Did you get that?
Several educators in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, who did not teach FCAT tested subjects, were chosen for Teacher of The Year in their respective county despite the fact that their FCAT ratings were low. Huh? What?
The first question that jumps to mind is – why are they being rated if their subjects aren’t tested. Does anybody, except me, have the feeling that something is really mucked up in Tally?
My next thought was that all this confusing data reinforces, at least for me, a quaint notion – teaching is an art and not a quantifiable science.
The professional educator/administrator class that dominates policy in this state is about quantifying that which resists being quantified: the spark that exists when real learning is taking place. In other words, numbers can only tell half the tale, anyway – no matter how you twist the stats.
So, the best teachers, the most beloved teachers – the teachers who get nominated for teacher of the year – don’t have to drill the test, drill the test, drill the test. Get it? Simple? Right?
Now, I am sure that a lot of teachers who teach FCAT subjects are gifted teachers who should be nominated for awards like ‘teacher of the year’ and, I am also quite sure that those same teachers would like to be able to teach more, reach more students where they live and drill the test less.
Apparently that’s not so for the administrative class who insists on quantifying everything and also insists that quantifiable results are the only reliable indicator of an educator’s success or failure.
Let me say it again, education is as much about chemistry between the students and their teacher as it is about measurable result.
These “Teacher of the Year” teachers reflect that quaint, unquantifiable notion.
They are not burdened to ‘teach the test’ as are FCAT subject teachers, as a result, more organic learning takes place, better chemistry is created and what follows are better outcomes for students and ultimately society.
The Florida Department of Education requires that all teachers be rated and soon a new level of testing will be implemented to check on the progress of non-FCAT subject teachers. Who will be nominated teacher of the year, then? Drill instructors? Automatons?
Most of us have had the privileges of sitting through a ‘cram class’ where an instructor takes you through a proscribed text as quickly as possible, with practice drills in between sections. Is that real learning?
All of us remember at least one beloved or hated teacher who made a profound impact on our lives. Was that impact quantifiable?
“It just points to the lack of validity in this whole process,” Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, told the Tampa Bay Times, after reviewing the teachers’ scores.
In the same article, Will Weatherford said, “I think the concept works.”
Is that a joke? Did he understand the question? Will, go to the back of the class.
