PISA Response Paper

The practice of evaluating students and teachers based on expensive and stressful standardized testing has been the focus of educational reform for over a decade and has thus far proven to be ineffective (Ravitch 51).

“…only twenty-two percent of those surveyed said increased testing had helped the performance of their local schools compared with twenty-eight in 2007” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). Furthermore the poll indicated an eleven percent increase, compared to last year, towards the favor of discontinuing the usage of students’ test results for teacher evaluations. William Bushaw, executive director of PDK International and co-director of PDK/Gallup Poll also stated, “Americans’ mistrust of standardized tests and their lack of confidence and understanding around new education standards is one the most surprising developments we’ve found in years” (“Public Skeptical of Standardized Testing.”). All in all, not only are these tests a concern for students, who are forced to sit through them, hoping to get a decent enough score to place into a class, receive their diploma, or even get accepted to the college of their dreams, but they are a concern for parents as well, who only want the best for their children and to see them succeed.

As schools across the nation look for a uniform method to evaluate teachers’ performances, concerns about both methods are highlighted. NYC is using the Danielson Framework to evaluate teachers this year; some concerns have been brought up by administrators and the teachers union. In the piliot program it was noted by one administrator that “some of her teachers are not scoring as high on the rubric as she would expect — precisely because the rubric expects the same general characteristics in all grades” (Cromidas, 2012). This is because in the Danielson Framework the observer is looking for weather a teacher is doing the behavior or not. Check mark - there is no distinction between a new teacher and a veteran teacher. The other thing that administrators are noting that the “practicing observing teachers using Danielson had proved to be time-consuming” (Cromidas, 2012). It is recommend that they observer spends a number of informal observations lasting at least 15 minutes in the classroom before the official observation and that the report be turned around in 48 hours to the teacher.

The No Child Left Behind act emerged as a result of a massive increase in the costs of schools, while failing to show an improvement in their students performances. (Paterson 32) Since these standardized test have been in effect teachers have been judged off them. The problem is that

For the past decade, our country’s education system has reached a flat line in results. Studies show that the United States is the number one country in education spending in order to improve our results, but standardized test scores have plateaued. During President George W. Bush’s term, he initiated a program titled “No Child Left Behind.” No offense to President Bush, however his educational initiative is the most ironic title due to its produced results. So far, no state in our country has reached one hundred percent proficiency in mathematics and language arts and the system has gotten deficient and is failing the millennial generations. Education is a key component to success in our fast-paced society and our system needs to change, for

In the article Policy Points: A Nation at Risk, analyzes Terrell Bell’s report on the education system in April 1983. It made recommendations to help the nation be able to compete with other nations. The report focused on education reform and what should be the testing standards. The article raised the question whether or not the nation was at risk. “The report presented a doom-and-gloom picture of an America headed toward second-rate status based on the failure of its schools to produce students able to compete in the global economy”(pg.1). With the argument in hand the author then presented the facts of education actually developing for the better, such as, workforce increasing by 125 percent and the United States being the

Education reform takes on different forms depending on the goals of reformers. However, most will agree their ultimate goal is to positively impact student achievement. Changes in public education continues to increase teacher accountability, as well as, update curriculum standards and standardized tests. The teacher evaluation system is one focus of recent initiatives. While district implement new teacher evaluation methods, skepticism surrounds its effectiveness, in improving teaching, and comprehensiveness, in assessing the multi-faceted role a teacher plays in the lives of students. I have experienced the good, bad, and ugly of the teacher evaluation system of Shelby County.

The dependence on standardized tests has depreciated education by taking attention away from school curriculum. These mandatory tests, unfortunately, “are being used in high-stakes ways to evaluate and punish teachers” (Strauss). Standardized tests create quotas that are required to be met and force teachers to teach students how to pass tests rather than learn the material of the subject. It is not enough these days that a teacher’s students perform well in the classroom; teachers also have to worry about the same students performing well on a standardized test. Schools are also affected by these tests because their rankings are based on their students’ scores. Consequently, this puts pressure on teachers to make sure students have good test taking abilities in order to score well on these standardized tests. This obsession with getting

The publication in 1983 of A Nation at Risk Report, flung education into the political ring as the Reagan Administration reasoned the state of education to be a national security risk (Reutzel, 2009). This report caused the public and politicians to start to examine education and the state of reading readiness of the kids of the United States (Reutzel, 2009).

The argument has been made that so-called high stakes testing has caused district administrators, principals, and even teachers to focus more on teaching to the tests rather than providing instruction that is more well-rounded and perhaps more interesting to both educators and students (Au, 2011). However, regardless of how administrators, principals, and teachers may perceive standardized testing, the reliance on standardized test scores as a measure of school district effectiveness has resulted in educators attempting to find means to increase those scores that are deemed to be lower than acceptable (McNeil, Coppola, Radigan & Heilig,

I found De-testing and de-grading schools: Authentic alternatives to accountability and standardization by Bower and Thomas, an interesting read and consistent with the critiques of high stakes testing and assessment we’ve read about and watched in this class. It is a collection of essays from educators and stakeholders in the field. The book is broken up into distinct sections, the first focused on testing and the second on grading. A historical context regarding failures of testing and grading is also provided to give context to the current problems with high stakes assessment and grading. The main message presented in this book is that high stakes testing and assessments (grading) are not working and alternatives should be considered. Specifically, the law of No Child Left Behind is critiqued through out, especially in the first few chapters.

Another problem seen today with standardized testing is teachers being evaluated based on how their students score. When looking at student test scores, if scores are not up to par, the district will occasionally make cuts in the mindset that the educator did not prepare their students enough for the standardized test, but it has been found that "student test scores alone are not sufficiently reliable and valid indicators of teacher effectiveness to be used in high-stakes personnel decisions" (Baker 2010). This has been decided because the standardized test scores are going to fluctuate from year to year, an educator that could be at the top of the effective educator list one year could be at the bottom of the list the following year. It has

Since, the starting of PISA the results from the assessment along with TIMMS, and PIRLS have received a number of mixed reactions from countries around the world. According to Patrick Gonzales a research analyst at the National Center of Education and Statistics the United States 2012 PISA findings were not surprising. According to PISA 2012, the United States currently ranks 17th in reading, 27th in mathematics, and 20th in science (PISA 2012 US, 2012). Over the years, the results from the Nation’s Report Card an ongoing national assessment of fourth, eight, and twelve graders provides a similar insight into of what students can and cannot do in the U.S. Therefore, PISA results did not provide much new insight into the strengths and weaknesses

Public education in the United States is perhaps one of the most critical issues we face as a nation. Once pronouncing the United States as a “nation at risk”, the educational institution began to implement one reform strategy after another. In efforts to improve schooling for K-12 students, education reform has fiddled with class size, revised graduation requirements, and created standardized testing just to name a few. Unfortunately, traditional public schools are still failing to provide students with a quality education. This is disheartening as we learn that the United States lags behind in math and science compared to our international counterparts. It is safe to say that educational reform has spent billions of dollars over the

Teachers’ performance evaluation is definitely not a new trend. However, what is new is the deep