CSAP in COLO.
Reading Mr. Leininger’s letter I can understand where he’s coming from because he uses industrial and business terms. Education isn’t manufacturing, I’ve done both. In manufacturing, quality of raw materials can be specified, no teacher can write specs for quality or numbers for the incoming class of students.
CSAP does not measure teachers’ “productivity,” and it is not designed to do so. Under CSAP, a fifth grade student could arrive from a rural Appalachian school reading at third grade level and the teacher who coached and guided him to read at fourth grade level by the time CSAP is administered, and up to fifth grade by the end of the year would be extremely “productive,” but a failure under CSAP.
CSAP is like industrial inspection except schools and teachers are judged by what students do. If you want to judge teachers, judge them by what they do.
Students are not rewarded for excelling on CSAP or penalized for failing CSAP. They can actually sandbag a school or teacher by deliberately failing.
Mrs. Jones demands discipline? Kids flunk the test. She’s punished, not they.
CSAP may actually not do it’s job, judging from Colorado’s statistics.
This letter has not been edited.
What they do (or are supposed to do) Robert is teach - not bitch about having to administer a test once a year. Your analogy is stained at best since you provide zero solutions.
If they stuck to the subject/program the majority of their kids would be ready to test without focusing on what the test entails. Instead they have teacher in service days, every holiday under the sun is taken, play days, on and on. They need to be in the classroom teaching the subject(s) assigned them - if they did that the results would be better.
Instead all we hear is you bellyaching as to how kids could "Throw the test"
Just how else do you suggest that we judge how a teacher does in the classroom? you offered no suggestion on how to do this other than to critcize CSAP testing.
Here is an idea-
If you want to hold the teachers accountable let us test them once a year in the subject matter they are supposed to be teaching to our children. If they fail or score less than 90% cut their pay by the percentage they failed until they pass the test with greater than 90% correct answers. Why would you want anyhting less for your children? If the teacher does not know the subject matter why in the world do you want them presenting it to our children?
09:36PM has the crazy idea that it is about how much teachers know. It's not, of course. It's about how much they teach. How much information a person has in his head hardly correlates with how well he can impart that information to children.
Posted by Truth on September 14, 2007 12:55 PMTruth, you say it has nothing to do with what they know! WHAT? Are you saying that any ole Joe blow who dropped out of high school but know how to relate to a kids learning abilities be granted a teachers license? Of course you say like it is a no brainer. You sir are the no brainer.
It is views such as yours that have caused our education system to be as dysfunctional as it is.