Part of House Bill 2 ... now under consideration in the Senate .... states that not only would I be responsible for earning my own Incentive (Merit) Pay .... I would also be responsible for the Merit Pay of every teacher in my school.
Here is how it goes.
There are many teachers in a school who do not teach TAKS tested subjects .... Art teachers, Foreign Language teachers, Home Ec. teachers, Band, Cheerleading, PE .... and so on. To them, it isn't fair that some teachers might qualify for an extra $5,000 a year because they do teach TAKS tested classes (Math, English, Science, and Social Studies). SOOOOoooooo .... the Legislature decided that if a school on the whole performs well on all sections of the TAKS tests, then all teachers in the school will get the bonus, no matter what they teach.
Sounds reasonable, right?
WRONG!!!
During the history of Testing in Texas .... the past 20 years .... Mathematics has been the low scorer consistently. Even in some of the best school districts, Math scores are the lowest scores. I have dealt with that the whole time. And that was fine. I teach Math. Math is hard for a lot of people. My students normally do pretty well on the Tests. My pressure has always been to get the kids to graduate. They have to pass TAKS to graduate. That is important to me.
Now .... my burden becomes the BONUSES of EVERY TEACHER IN MY BUILDING!! What if my classes are low and slow and uncaring? The 10th grade test results determine our school's ranking .... but it is the 11th grade tests that determine if a student graduates. The 10th graders have NO INCENTIVE to try. There are no repercussions if they fail. NONE.
I teach 10th grade Math.
I have students in my classes who took 3 attempts to pass Algebra I .... I have students for whom this is their 3rd or 4th attempt at passing Geometry!! I work with them. Many of them do well with me .... better than they normally do! And they may even do better on the next TAKS than they did on the last one ... but better might not be good enough ....
And suddenly .... no one in the school gets a bonus because of ME.
No thank you.
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3 comments:
Awwwwww ..... thanks RH .... I am guessing you might know a 10th grader?
I agree, I'm a 10th grade student in cincin's class and have listened to her opinions first hand.
What I believe they are trying to do is minimize individual failures by slapping us all together in one big category and then, based on the total performance, decide the schools budget/ranking etc. Which for one is stupid, and totally senseless, a bit like communism. Why should the teachers pay be dictated by his/her students performance? It shouldn't, it should be based on his/her perform and ability to teach.
TAKS should NOT interupt the normal lesson plan. I want to learn geometry, not how to earn the state money. But I guess its not about education anymore, atleast in Texas, it's all about the money. Which is sad, I've had to take Algebra I three friggin' times and now if I don't pass Geometry, it's GED time for me.
It also hurts the future generation when you abandon education and focus entirely on making money for the state. People complain constantly over the dumbing down of American youth, why do you think that is?
Well just my two cents.
Regards,
Ian
It is refreshing to hear a student talk about "dumbing down". We as teachers have felt that we have been forced to "dumb down" our teaching because of a lot of factors:
1. Having to teach to a test which takes away from our teaching time, thus making it so that you teach the minimum to get them through the test and know the material you are supposed to be teaching.
2. Having all learning levels bunched together in one classroom; where the students more able to handle higher-level math are bored, the average student just keeps trying to stay with the program and the math-challenged students are lost.
3. Every year, the state changes the requirements on the TAKS/TEKS and takes some objectives away and puts in others.
4. Parents that complain about homework (in math how are they supposed to learn and practice without homework). Parents that just want there child to pass and don't care if they "really" learn the material.
These are a few of the reasons for dummying down our curriculum. The worst one that I see; however, is the teaching to the test mentality. As long as a student can pass that TAKS test, the state and our federal government thinks these students have gotten a good education! Wrong!
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