Teacher Evaluation Task Force Bases 40% On Tests, But Says Too Much Testing Is Bad

This makes no sense - they warn against excessive testing, then add an excessive amount of tests to how teachers will be evaluated:

A state task force Monday released a blueprint for evaluating teachers that could make getting tenure more rigorous and less arbitrary.

...

The task force - formed last year as part of the state's "Race to the Top" application - recommended that about 20% of teachers' ratings be based on state exams, 20% on local tests and 60% on classroom observations, student work and parent surveys.

The system would go into effect for fourth-through-eighth-grade math and English teachers in September and the remaining teachers and all principals the following year.

...

The proposal would likely usher in another layer of standardized tests for the sixth through tenth grade. At the same time, the task force cautioned against overreliance on the exams.

"In an era when states are being swept up by the wave of high stakes standardized measures and political attempts to categorize and rank professional work,," task force members wrote, "children must not be subjected beyond the tipping point of excessive test-driven curriculum and test-taking routines."

Any teacher rated "ineffective" or "developing" under the proposal would immediately trigger the creation of a professional development plan.

So the task force says too much standardized testing is harmful to children and public education, but they're going to "usher in" another layer of standardized testing and base 40% of teacher evaluations on test scores.

Teachers who do not "add value" to students' scores will first be slated for professional development, then fired.

I'm sure that system won't subject children to an excessive test-driven curriculum and test-taking routines at all.

Oh, wait - no, it will do the EXACT opposite.

That's all we will do in public schools.

And of course the more tests there are, the less children will care about them, so o if the state adds another layer of tests onto the system, we will be all high stakes testing all the time.

This proposal has to be voted upon by the Regents, but you can be sure it will pass.

A truly awful proposal that will ensure more testing, more cheating and ultimately worse education for children.

And this is a DIRECT result of President Obama's Race to the Top boondoggle.