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AS A TEACHER in Albuquerque, I was pleased to see the op-ed column written by my union president and Rep. Rick Miera. I’m not thrilled with the current evaluation system — it does not do much to inform my teaching. I am not, however, at all thrilled with the idea of my evaluation being tied to test scores, rather than authentic measures of student learning.
The ideas that Ellen Bernstein and Miera put forth in their column, like using student learning objectives instead of standardized tests to look at student outcomes, make sense to me. Assessing students’ proficiency in a rigorous and multifaceted set of standards requires an equally rigorous and multifaceted set of measures for success. One standardized test score annually is not sufficient information on which to make high-stakes decisions about teaching and learning.
I know that I get a much better understanding of my students’ mastery of a concept by looking at their classwork and projects, measuring their individual growth, than I do by looking at the SBA scores of last year’s students (since I don’t get those results in time for them to be of any use in my classroom instruction). …
It was refreshing to see a column written by two people who are experienced educators and who have years of experience with New Mexico’s schools. I’ve read that the evaluation system the PED is piloting has “union support,” but I’m proud that my union supports teacher evaluation reforms that are more balanced and informative, and that allow me to spend time teaching my students, assessing their progress in a meaningful way and continuously adapting my instruction to better meet their needs — which is what good teaching looks like — rather than spending time preparing students to take tests that pretty much exist in a vacuum.
AMANDA REID
Albuquerque
