Cash for Test Scores: How Smart Is That?
What manner of man could possibly begrudge public school teachers or schools taking home thousands of extra bucks?
I am that manner of man.
Maybe “begrudge” isn’t the right word. Many teachers spend upward of hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets to help students. I’d be happy to put that money back in their pockets.
What I begrudge is the state’s love affair with standardized testing. I’m even less keen on the romance now that reward money is about to start flowing to teachers and schools.
Unless teachers as a class are much more magnanimous toward their fellow workers than the rest of us (they’re not), the plan to reward individual teachers with up to $25,000 is bound to create hard feelings in the teachers’ lounge. Imagine your peer getting a $25,000 check the same day you’re assigned to work the Friday night school dance.
Let’s hope that sensible adults will respond well.
The real problem lies in the fledgling system of paying cash bonuses to schools and teachers whose students show enough improvement on standardized tests.
This thought occurs: If we want to pay people for exceeding expectations, why not pay the pupils? I’m sure little Juan and Amy in the third grade could use an extra C-note as a reward for increasing their reading scores.
All kidding aside, why rely on standardized testing to determine if teachers--and schools--are doing their jobs? I’m afraid the answer is because it’s the easiest way.
I went to college, so I’m smart enough to understand the value of tests and the desire for accountability in the classroom.
My hang-up comes in using the Stanford 9 tests as the sole measuring stick, which is the case this school year.
I admit to limited credentials: I’ve never been a teacher and I’m not a parent. So my experience is confined to taking tests as a student and in talking to a number of teachers in the last year or so on the new state program.
My test-taking memories are cram, then forget. Perhaps that’s a measure of learning, perhaps not.
Curriculum by Corporations
I put much more stock in teachers who have discussed the subject with me. They aren’t of one mind, but plenty of them object and are quite consistent in their complaints: The tests aren’t proof that students are “learning,” and schools are gearing too much class time toward doing well on the tests.
Throw in other variables--such as the level of parental involvement, the supplies available at school and the students’ innate abilities--and things seem far from standard when it comes to measuring progress.
On top of all that, do we really want to tie cash awards to student performance on tests? Do we want to tempt our teachers and schools with the promise of cash for high test scores? Haven’t we already seen sporadic stories of teachers around the country cooking the books to get the rewards?
More worrisome are the thoughts of an Orange County high school teacher with more than 30 years’ experience. Some months back, he e-mailed: “What really concerns me is the curriculum will now be determined by corporations [who formulate the tests], as teachers and administrators teach to the tests. And they are either fools or liars if they say they won’t.”
He also lamented the lack of flexibility and creativity he’ll have in the classroom. Rather than spend some class time on a major current event, he wrote, “let’s spend 60 minutes of precious class time on the Panic of 1873, which 99.9% of adults, politicians, book and test publishers know absolutely nothing about, but which might be on that standardized test that determines if you receive a diploma.”
News reports say that two-thirds of California schools have qualified for the hundreds of millions of dollars in the existing pot.
Are we suddenly doing a great job in the classroom? Or are teachers and schools “teaching to the tests” as my e-mailer fears?
One thousand teachers statewide will hit the $25,000 jackpot for their students’ progress. Another 3,750 will get $10,000 each and 7,500 will walk off with $5,000. They’re supposed to start getting their money next month.
I should be happy for them.
Shouldn’t I?
Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.
