Educators and testing

I say go for it. I think high stakes standardized testing is something that is going to come back and bite us all in the butt.

I must agree that everyone, students and teachers alike, must be held to high standards - and if the teachers are not qualified to teach what they are teaching, then they too should have to go back to school. Students must obtain certain requirements before they can graduate and I think that teachers should obtain the appropriate training and certifications before they are allowed to teach. Part of our problems with education in America these days are the underpaid, overworked and sometimes underqualified teachers.

I am a teacher, and I would love to have testing of teachers. There are lots of teachers out there who are not educated or up to date in their subject. I certainly would not want mychild taught by someone who does not know their subject.

for a while, the school of thought was that if you are a good teacher, you can teach anything. the new ways of teaching make the teacher a “facilitator” not a source of knowledge. the children are supposed to discover for themselves, so that does not require a specialist in that field. I think that is garbage. When children have questions, they need someone who knows the subject and knows where and how to find the answers.

I think there should be testing of teachers for competence but I don’t think any standardized test does that.

As a teacher and a taxpayer, I’d like to see satisfaction surveys given out to parents and students alike. I’d like to see the parents’ and students’ have input into judging the competence of a teacher. A teacher may pass a standardized test with flying colors but still be an incompetent teacher.

The best test of teaching is teaching and students are the best judge of a good teacher.