Are our teachers afraid to take annual tests because they may fail, as so many of our children are failing?
Question by wherethatpicture: Are our teachers afraid to take annual tests because they may fail, as so many of our children are failing?
Based on the individual credentials and their college honors, I see that our teachers should be subject to state and federal testing as our children are subjected to across the nation. We as the paying public deserve to know if the teachers that teaching our children are kept current with every technical advantage available for teaching our children. Our children deserve the highest regards of education, especially when it comes to the future. All the teachers with 20-30 yrs of service are not updated themselves with the current technology, and some are blantly disregarding its importance for today’s student just because they are not familiar with this modern technology. We deserve and demand that our children be given a fail playing field, and the more we just trust the credentials that teachers are presenting to the school board, we need to have them tested annually to make sure they are keeping up with the current use of teaching skills so that our children will be competitive..
Best answer:
Answer by Megan K
Teachers are not afraid to take annual tests. They are insulted. Are doctors required to prove that they are up to date on the latest medical technology? Are lawyers required to prove that they know all of the latest legal changes? Are CPAs required to test every year to make sure they know new tax laws? No. As with all of these professions, teachers should not have to be subject to “proving” their competency after they have already passed the required competencies and tests to be licensed to teach. In regards to the failure of children, this problem starts long before children ever hit the public schools. They are victims of poverty and do not have the same opportunities for brain stimulation as their middle and upper class peers. Those children that were provided these mentally stimulating opportunities from birth are not failing.
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about 1 year ago
I’m a teacher, and I would not be afraid to take an annual test. I graduated cumlaude from one of the top 20 universities in the world and hold a Master’s Degree. My question to you is, do *you* have to take an annual test to prove that *you* are keeping up with the current use of skills in your field? No? Whyever not? Hey, I know! Let’s make EVERYONE have to reapply for their jobs annually by taking a test. Starting to sound a bit silly, now, yes?
Also, if teachers were made to take these annual tests, who would design them? Who would pay for them? Who would coordinate them? What consequences would there be for those who did not pass?
Education is one of the most faddish fields I’ve ever seen. What is touted today will almost assuredly be thrown out tomorrow. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of hours I have spent during the past 14 years learning about the “latest” trend only to have it cast aside for next “latest” trend.
Frankly, current technology has not done as much to improve “today’s student” as you seem to think it has. In fact, in many ways, it has impeded true learning rather than enhanced it. Ask any teacher, new and experienced, and they will tell you the same. Plagiarism is now rampant, as students no longer bother to do real research in lieu of simply visiting Wikipedia and cutting and pasting what they find there. Kids play video games instead of doing homework. iPods being brought to school are allowing students to tune out teachers in favor of songs like “Shake That Laffy Taffy”.
Now, tell me again that it’s the TEACHERS’ fault that kids are not competitive.
about 1 year ago
You again. Obviously you have no clue how much education it takes to be a credentialed teacher or how much ongoing education and testing that teachers take part in so as to be current and at the top of their game.
Enough said, Go read a book….
MeOw!!!
about 1 year ago
I don’t have any idea what you do for a living, but are you tested annually?
I assure you that although we are not tested annually, we do stay updated. My district in TX requires professional development hours (on my own time) each year, we are observed by our superiors, scrutinized constantly by parents and the the general public and made accountable by politicians and those that have no idea what it is like to be in the educational profession. Try it for about a week, and see if you can handle it.
The reason children fail in school is not because their teachers are failing, it’s because parents are failing to do their jobs at home by supporting and enhancing what is taught in the classroom. If you don’t like the way that the public school systems are run, then home school your children. Let’s see how easy it is for you to keep up with the requirements (and there are some to LEGALLY home school your child).
about 1 year ago
If you think teachers are so uneducated and untrained, then why don’t you go to a teaching college, take the coursework, and become a teacher yourself?
If you disagree with the professional development in-service and conference trainings assigned by your district’s administrators to your teachers, try pasting on a smile and a pleasant demeanor, and courteously bring up the need for additional technology in daily instruction, or whatever your current pet issue is, to the PTA and to your central office administrators.
Here’s the simple, easy pathway for you to show us all how to be better teachers!
1. Go to college, and get your 4-year degree in Education, with a specialization in one or more fields (Elementary, Secondary w/core area, Special Education, Bilingual, etc.). This degree will include observations of classrooms, practicums (your final semester is “student teaching), and coursework in teaching methods, childhood development, psychology, education history and law, classroom management, and “electives” in your area(s) of speciality.
2. At the end of your 4-year degree, you will need to take your state’s teacher competency examinations in basic skills, general knowledge, professional knowledge, and your area of specialities.
3. If you pass your 4-year degree AND your tests, you can get hired. Every year after you are hired, you will be undergoing a Professional Development Plan with your principal, based on your state’s teacher competencies. Your principal will observe your instruction, review your lesson plans and other paperwork, and give you an annual performance review. You will also attend in-service trainings, and continue to take college coursework.
4. Build your licensure ranking through years of experience, dossier submissions, documented training attendance and continuing-education coursework, and accumulating further advanced degrees from your local university.
Oh, did I mention that you get to do all this through your own cost? Have fun!