My Question of the Day for 30 September 2010 – UPDATED
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My Question of the Day: I’ve heard the following saying: “Students don’t fail unless teachers fail to teach.” Without deciding whether you agree or disagree with that statement, do you believe that teachers should receive pay raises based on the number of their students who are able to pass the standardized tests?
My 2 Cents: Absolutely not! Every effort should be made to supply all the resources teachers need to help their students succeed, but teacher’s pay shouldn’t be based on whether students can pass a standardized test. A system like this would be fraught with problems. Some teachers would only teach to the test. Other teachers would feel forced to help their students cheat on the test. Still other teachers, teachers who are truly gifted educators, may choose to leave the professional all together if they know they’re not educating students but training them to take a test. Worst of all, administrators would make the test the only focus, and this would put tremendous pressure on teachers and students alike.
Teachers must be held accountable, but I don’t agree that performance-based pay in their situation is fair. There are too many factors at play when it comes to teaching.
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No I do not. Teachers are the not the only ones responsible for a child’s learning. Budget issues, domestic complications, and such are major factors as well so a teacher can be as top notch as they came but other things might prevent her/him from helping students pass
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LikeDislikeNo; I’m not much impressed with teachers who just teach to standardized tests. I think they should receive pay raises for teaching ability: being able to engage kids in class, instill a thirst for knowledge, and foster a lively, interactive classroom setting. You can tell when you’re in a classroom whether the kids are eager to participate. These are the things that translate to lifelong learning and are much more useful throughout a child’s life than just learning how to pass a standardized test.
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LikeDislikeNo! I don’t think these standardized tests should even be given. I was just saying to my daughter this afternoon that it’s not exactly that the teachers don’t teach, it’s more that they’re being stifled in what they can teach. And because of this stifling, the children don’t learn things they should be learning as well as they could be learning it. I don’t think test scores should determine a teacher’s pay raise at all; some people just don’t test well, regardless of how well they may know a particular subject.
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LikeDislikeNo. That only encourages teachers to teach what’s on the standardized test and ignore everything else that students need to be taught to achieve success. Throw out standardized testing.
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