Sunday, June 27, 2010

Negative learning from high "value-added" teaching?

A new study on teacher “quality” shows that post-secondary teachers who did best in terms of their students' value-added test scores did worst in terms of their students being able to succeed in more advanced course work.

The authors hypothesize that this is the result of “teaching to the test” which hurts the ability of students to engage in “deep learning.”

This is one more piece of evidence revealing how the incredibly simple-minded approach of Bloomberg/Klein/Duncan/Gates and the rest of the Billionaire’s Boys Club to teacher evaluation may have destructive long term impacts.

Their excessively narrow view of learning attempts to impose a narrow and damaging model on teaching.

8 comments:

Shirin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

The Billionaire Boys Club couldn't give a damn the curriculum has been narrowed, kids aren't being prepared for college or careers, that kids will be negatively impacted by a system loaded with rookie teachers, that kids left in public schools will get a crappy education, etc...

If they cared they be listening to teachers and parents who know better than they do.

All they care about is turning a school system into a money-maker.....for them.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU, Leonie!!!

Studies like this are LONG overdue, but what's really sad is that no reasonable-minded, moderately -informed person ever needed a study to know that result. The persistent and (I'd have to say) knowing bungling going on is outrageous! I could understand setting some temporary super-low benchmarks in order to bootstrap a system, yet carrying this garbage on indefinitely and allowing it such substantial weight in decisions of closings and tenure and the entire direction of education is absolutely criminal and immoral, oh, and stupid and self-defeating.

Anonymous said...

Bill G., Mike B., Joel, Arne, Barack: To the Principal's office! Now!

No, no, we'll discuss it in the office. You guys thought you were being cute, huh? Well, you're all in big trouble, now. Shhh. That's exactly what we're going to be discussing. Come on. JOEL! I'm confiscating that Blackberry!

Anonymous said...

Question: Why have ed experts failed to run studies like this for primary and secondary school teachers?

Answer: Those curricula have been stripped of real critical thinking and comparisons to college performance would expose too much of the often necessary remedial courses and remedial material embedded in intro courses.

Anonymous said...

In fact, none of these guys would tolerate this curriculum for their own children. What hypocrisy! This isn't about kids learning. This is about breaking the union and turning schools into sweatshops. Charter schools are sweatshops! This is change we can believe in, eh?

Anonymous said...

Leonie! You have confirmed exactly the pattern I've noticed about my teachers and their reports! Thank you for confirming that I am still an astute observer of teaching and learning.

Maureen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.