Reply to "Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]You're missing the point. The complaining and "high stakes" moniker only seems to come up when it affects teachers. But when it was affecting millions of students nobody cared.[/quote]

People have been complaining about these "high stakes" tests for years.  People complain about the effect they have in narrowing the curriculum for STUDENTS.  Yes, people care about the effect on students.  Also, what affects the teachers affects the students.  The two are very closely linked because the teacher is teaching the students.  Teachers give instruction.  Instruction affects students.   Therefore, teachers affect students.  "High stakes"tests affect instruction.  You can't affect one thing without affecting the rest.  When you talk about any of it, you are talking about impacts on students.  [/quote]

As I see it, you have that 180 degrees backwards.  Standardized testing and standards don't "narrow" the curriculum unless teachers and school districts make it their choice to do so.  Standards and tests don't tell schools what they can't teach, they only tell schools what minimum content they should be teaching.[/quote]

A basic principle of measurement is that if you reward people for do more x and less y, then they will do, or appear to do, more x and less y. It may be actively harmful to do more x and less y. They may achieve more x and less y solely by cooking the books. But the results will be, or appear to be, more x and less y.

Here's one example (not in education): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/06/09/va-says-more-than-57000-patients-waiting-for-first-visit/
Here's another (in education):http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/21/wrong-answer[/quote]

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