Stop the invalid use of student testing to judge teachers!

by -

I just read this piece about needing a New Deal for testing… and add my voice to the conversation.
Using student test results to measure teacher performance is not just ‘starting to damage our schools.’  It is flawed in a far more basic way–it is invalid use of those tests.  These tests are designed to measure student performance against the Common Core–and to assess college and career readiness. They are NOT designed to measure teachers.  I’m afraid that using them for this invalid purpose (no matter how carefully the statistical model may be) invites litigation and further erodes support for education reform.

 

About Miriam

Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, JD, MA—an expert in public education, focused on special education law— is a lawyer, author, speaker, consultant, and reformer. For more than 35 years, Miriam worked with educators, parents, policy makers, and citizens to translate complex legalese into plain English and focus on good practices for children. Now, she focuses her passion on reforming special education, with her new book, Special Education 2.0—Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law. Presentations include those at the AASA Conference, Orange County (CA), Boston College (MA), CADRE (OR), and the Fordham Institute (DC). Her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Education Week, Education Next, Hoover Digest, The University of Chicago Law Review on line, DianeRavitch.net, and The Atlantic Monthly on line.

No Comments

Be the first to start a conversation

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *