Flawed Premises and High Hopes

I know I originally touted this blog (three short posts ago) as a place for Education Technology discussions; however, at this particular point in time there are issues that encompass the entirety of education that are paramount.  These issues will also have an effect on EdTech, so anyone with a passion for infusing technology in education should be paying attention.

1. VAM (Value-Added Measurement) for teacher evaluation in which teachers are ranked publicly upon how well their students perform on state standardized tests.
2. Alleged "rampant" cheating in schools by teachers and others on state standardized tests.

Hmmm... there seems to be a common theme with the two big issues as popularized in media over the last several days.  Could it be that the vehicle for measurement of both students and teachers is flawed?

[If you want to read more, check out AJC regarding the cheating scandal and the EdWeek article about Duncan's views of teacher ranking.]

It is my contention that the practice of standardized testing, as we know it today, is the cause of America's decline in education in the recent past.  We have put such extreme pressures on principals and teachers to perform well on these tests and what do the tests really measure?  Mostly lower-level skills, recall and basic calculations. 

If we want our kids to be fact-machines, then keep teaching them how to memorize and learn the "3 R's" AND assessing them on their ability to do just that.  Our counterparts in certain countries have been successful at that, and they have been an avenue of American companies for finding "cheap" and "out-sourced" labor.

If, instead, we value a higher standard, one that asks our kids to be the next great innovators, or asks if students can find facts when they need it and apply them to the current problem at hand, or seeks for our youth that know how to work together to solve problems, then we might just have a fighting chance.  And we, as educators are obligated to find a way to assess this.

Yet, the real question is why assess it at all?  Is it to label poor performing schools or teachers?  Or is it a means for a teacher to determine what strategies may have been most successful?  Or is it a means for a principal to track performance and make the best decisions for the school?  Another question is, who really needs to see this information?

As far as the EdTech connections in this post, I have long believed that the true power of education technology is not in the technology itself, it is when it used in conjunction with higher-order skills, the same skills that will move us forward as a country, and the same skills that every nation should be embracing.