Teacher Effectiveness

I teach in one of the few states in our glorious union that rates teacher-effectiveness based on our students' test scores. Yep--scary and a good reason not to like Obama and his minion Arne Duncan, which actually makes me sad because I liked Obama so much last year. I had foolishly thought anyone besides Dubya would see the ridiculousness of NCLB, but it seems that ain't so. And now Obama wants to pay teachers based on their students test scores? Seems mighty unfair to me, but my scores are an argument in favor of this--darn it all.

I have referenced it before, but let me state it again--last year was the most difficult year of my teaching career. If I had to do it again, I would resign. I had huge behavior problems and half of my class was special ed-inclusion, which means it really wasn't an inclusion class--it was a modified CDC (Comprehensive Development Class, I think it means--typically a CDC class has MR and severely autistic students. An overstatement to call it a CDC, but it FELT that way. Everyone was so low!) Imagine my surprise when I signed for and received my white envelope.

Getting your Teacher Effect scores is a big thing--someone from downtown comes and distributes the envelopes. Teachers rip them open and study the results with furrowed brows, but no one shares with anyone else. It's PRIVATE with all caps. I'm dying to know how one of my co-workers did, but to ask would be a huge faux pas--darn it. My scores were good. Above average gains in science--I don't understand this because I hate to teach science. A positive score (indicating more than a year's growth) in mathematics. A year's growth in reading. Finally, a below average score in social studies, but that doesn't matter because it doesn't count toward NCLB. It hurts, because I love teaching social studies, but it doesn't matter. Now, the big question--how did that group of knuckleheads I had last year achieve this?

Some things are impossible to grok.