I should probably begin this post with the disclosure that my mother has been teaching in secondary and higher education for almost thirty years, and I myself am very interested in education, education technology, and alternative literacies. That being said, I (so far) am very much in support of what Florida Governor Charlie Crist did yesterday, by vetoing an education bill that would have dramatically changed education.

According to the NY Times article (linked above):

The bill was supported by the Florida Department of Education and statewide business groups, which expressed disappointment in the governor’s decision, saying that teachers should be held more accountable. But the governor, announcing his veto in the Capitol in Tallahassee, said the changes envisioned would put “teachers in jeopardy of losing their jobs and teaching certificates, without a clear understanding of how gains will be measured.”

I want to draw attention to the governor’s statement for a moment. I don’t think he, nor I, nor any educator, feels that teachers should not be held somewhat accountable for what goes on in their classroom, BUT they are not wholly responsible, nor is it fair to hold them accountable for each students learning. The main reason I say this is tracking “how much someone learns” in a classroom is IMPOSSIBLE. Not only does every person learn in a different way, they learn at different rates, pick up on different issues, tune out certain things… and have lives that go on outside of the classroom that affect their mental state ALL THE TIME.

I’m never going to “learn” the same things in any given class as the person next to me. Each of us have our own academic agenda, our own reasons for taking the class, skills/knowledge/experiences that we come into the class with, etc. Please, someone tell me HOW anyone could craft a test that measures my “learning” in a class? What if I don’t articulate well with words, but am an artist? How can you allow me to express my thoughts and measure them up against others? How are those thoughts going to be quantified and given numerical value to evaluate a teacher? This makes NO SENSE.

Yes there are tests that can measure “skills” that a student should “master” in a classroom… but if that student only consumes information to vomit it all back up on a test, what values are we instilling in our children? What are these tests really measuring, if anything, and are they worth our time? I understand the need for greater funding in our public schools, but arbitrary tests of “value” and “effectiveness” of teachers is not the answer.