"Mistaken Idea... Assessment Drives Results"

An article in the Huffington Post, cites the work of Carnegie President Anthony Bryk: American school superintendents have it tough these days. High turnover rates in urban school districts are just one indication of the often impossible-to-satisfy demands coming at them from all sides. Misguided approaches to school accountability are a key culprit. High-stakes evaluations based on student test scores put excessive stress on students, set unrealistic expectations for their parents, drive teachers to cut curriculum corners, game the system, or even cheat, and suck the satisfaction out of teaching in and leading schools. Such "accountability" systems isolate superintendents, rather than nurturing the ties to the broader community that are vital to helping our most troubled schools and students succeed. According to the article, "the problem starts with the mistaken idea that assessment drives results." Viable accountability systems must first build capacity to improve teacher and school leader effectiveness. In seminal school reform research, Anthony Bryk and his colleagues at the Consortium on Chicago School Research liken "turning around" troubled schools to baking a cake -- five key ingredients, including school leadership and quality instruction, must interact to enable real, sustained progress. Using test results to drive teacher and leader effectiveness is akin to poking the raw batter with a toothpick. Which is why it hasn't worked and is not going to.

Comments

[schoolboarddoc]

This situation has gotten way out of hand. However rather than suggest evaluation models as all being ineffective or akin to poking toothpicks into the batter misses the true cause of the current problem. There are models that are effective and can drive better instruction. The root of the problem in my view actually lives in the implementation processes that are a direct result of imposed state or federal legislation that requires very restrictive time windows to implement fully some fairly sophisticated evaluation models that lack teacher, principal, or district level governance understanding and most importantly buy in. The reach of the state and federal government into imposing legislation to improve education has simply gone way too far!