I know this has turned into more of an education blog than anything–but it is my life’s passion and work.  It is what I am passionate about.  I wish I was able to post more lively, humorous posts about the mundane things in live–but that is just not me.  I am thoughtful, cerebral, and an academic.  I look for the meaning in nearly everything–except for the occasional bottom of a wine glass (Or maybe even then).

I have long written and pontificated about the dangers of standardized testing on the quality of education that kids receive in public schools.  I will also make it very clear that my kids are in private school and that I am myself a public educator.  I believe in the idea of public education, I no longer believe in the type of public education that we now have in this country on the whole.  While there are pockets of schools and districts that provide quality education–those pockets are becoming fewer and farther between.

Ever since there has been standardized testing that was used to penalize teachers and schools there have been teachers and schools who see no other way than to cheat–adults are no different than students.  If we see no other way (regardless of our age) to do what we need to do–we cheat.  At my university you’d be surprised that each semester we have several students who are removed/dismissed from graduate programs for plagiarizing their comprehensive exams, theses or dissertations.  The pressure can sometimes be too much and when expectations are too high or unforgiving often we see no way out.   With NCLB the focus on testing became paramount to a schools success and now states are feeling the pressure and teachers’ jobs are now being intertwined and tied to test scores.  Did we not think this through?  In Colorado, teacher tenure is now tied directly to test scores.  Really?  This is insane.  I speak as a teacher–former high school teacher and current community college teacher.  While I am a proponent of abolishing tenure, I don’t think having it tied to test scores is a good idea.  It leads to cheating –by teachers and administrators.   Student achievement is important and teacher effectiveness is the number one influence on student performance in schools.  But we don’t focus on helping teachers become more effective.  We don’t offer curriculum that engages teachers and students.  We have been treating teachers as interchangeable parts.  It has to change if we are going to improve our educational system.

Teachers matter and good teachers matter.  We have to stop letting in anyone who wants to be a teacher in our Colleges of Education.  We need to counsel out of our teacher prep programs those who are not effective educators.  We need to help develop those who have the potential and train administrators how to evaluate teachers effectively.  I know my evals as a high school teacher were an absolute joke–they are the same way at the community college.  We need to stop turning a blind eye and allowing our education system to be driven by tests and we need to start driving it with intelligence and thoughtfulness.