During President Obama's State of the Union address, "An America Built to Last," I waited to hear when he would tackle education.
He began by mentioning the progress of CCSS, the Common Core State Standards:
For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education each year, we've convinced nearly every State in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning - the first time that's happened in a generation.
I have teacher friends who varying opinions about CCSS. The rigor for math and English across the nation will increase with them, and writing will now be encouraged across the curriculum. These are worthy goals, but I am fearful that the true goal of CCSS is a national test, which will be used to grade and punish states around the nation. The truth is that we already have a reliable national test called NAEP, but millions of dollars are being used to develop tests on the CCSS.
President Obama quickly shifted to talking about the monetary impact a single teacher can make on a student's life:
We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance.
Until America addresses its poverty problem, we will continue to have problems in education. "Reformers" like Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee will say that poverty should not be a contributing factor to the progress a student makes in education, but that's false. America has one of the highest rates of poverty in a developed nation. One great teacher in tenth grade is not going to save a student from a lifetime of problems associated with poverty. And the research that claims good teachers can make their students become richer is not credible in the least. And by not credible, I mean not peer reviewed.
I am forming a headache as I type this, so I will try to be briefer from here on out. Obama goes on to say that teachers do impact the lives of their students, which is nice, but then he says:
Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let's offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn.
Bashing? Teachers get bashed for bad test scores, which are part of the No Child Left Behind / Race to the Top agenda. Obama's policy encourages teachers to be evaluated based on their students' test scores. This practice is bad, wrong, foul, foolish, etc. So when Obama says he wants to reward the "best ones," how will they be determined to be some of the best? By the test scores of their students. Principals also play a role in evaluating teachers, but as long as these testing mandates drive instruction and many teachers will not "stop teaching to the test." A school where teachers can "teach with creativity and passion" would not be burdened with all the guidelines and policies of Race to the Top.
Obama has a classic case of wanting to have his cake and eat it too. He can't tell teachers that he wants to give them flexibility and creativity while still enacting a program that punishes schools for low test results when many of those schools are dealing with students who come from impoverished backgrounds. The testing mania needs to stop before any more damage is done.
In other words, Mr. President, don't cry about spilled milk when you were the one who pushed the milk to the edge of the table.
