In an effort to make teachers more accountable for the content they teach, the state of Ohio has instituted a new evaluation process for all teachers. It's called Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES). Before I go any further I need to tell you I am not against being accountable for what I teach and for what goes on in my classroom. I can comfortably make that statement because I have absolutely nothing to hide. I believe I am a good teacher, with good methods who has an excellent rapport with my students. I am more than happy to be accountable for my teaching. I have no issues with being evaluated on my performance in the classroom. The problem with OTES is that classroom observations and formal evaluations are only 50% of my "grade". The other 50% is based on student performance on high stakes standardized state tests. Do you see a problem with that? 50% of my yearly evaluation is based on my performance in the classroom (this is COMPLETELY within my control). 50% of my yearly evaluation is based on students' scores on state tests (much of which is out of my control). A casual observer may ask, "If you teach your material well, won't your students score high on those tests? What are you worried about?". In theory that sounds fine. That is until you encounter students who put little or no effort into their daily assignments and place no value for their own education. That is until you encounter students who either refuse to do their school work and even disrupt class to the point where they aren't learning and neither is anyone else. That is until you encounter students who come to school hungry, neglected, abused or simply out of an environment that is not supportive of the school or their child's education. If you think these sound like teacher excuses, please think again. Teachers work very hard to counteract the many, many difficult circumstances children live in. The fact is, teachers have these kids about 7 hours a day. They spend 17 hours a day, weekends, holidays and summers with someone that is not their teacher. The bottom line is this: 50% of my teacher evaluation is based largely on things that are completely out of my control. Keeping in mind also that my pay raise (or not) and my employment (or not) is based on OTES. Yes, folks, with low enough scores on OTES I could be fired from my job. Once again, I have no problem being accountable for what is within my control. I don't wish to be accountable for what these kids experience when they are not with me. I've said this before, but it bears repeating... let's evaluate doctors on the survival rate of their patients. Never mind the thousands of things that happen to people that doctors cannot control.
Sorry, doc, your patient died. You're getting an unfavorable evaluation.
But he was shot in the chest! I didn't shoot him, someone else did.
Sorry, doc, you should have worked harder and employed different treatments.
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Maybe firemen should be evaluated on whether a house burns down or not.
Sorry Fireman Fred. That house burned down. You're getting an unfavorable evaluation.
But the flames were already through the roof when we arrived on the scene.
Too bad. You should have arrived sooner and used different firefighting methods.
But we responded the moment we got the call. The fire burned for some time before anyone discovered it.
Sorry, you should have worked harder.
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Maybe dentists should be evaluated on the oral health of their patients.
Sorry Dentist Jones. Your patients have too many cavities. You're receiving an unfavorable evaluation.
But my patients don't always come in every 6 months for their check ups.
I'm Sorry. Maybe you should offer some incentives to get them in regularly and that still doesn't address all those cavities.
I give my patients free toothbrushes, toothpaste and excellent information on how to care for their teeth.
You must be doing something wrong. Many of your patients have cavities. You need to change your methods to keep up with the times.
But I can't force these people to brush and floss their teeth. I can only work with them when they're in my office.
Sorry. I guess you need to work harder.
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Do you get the point? Those scenarios involve factors out of someone's control and sometimes a lack of personal responsibility on the part of the client. A teacher can work and teach like a dog while the students are in the classroom, but we can't force them to listen and try. We can't force them to do their homework and we definitely can't control their home lives. Yet in many respects my performance as a teacher is based on those things out of my control.
And another thing...
As much as you'd like to think all students will put their heart and soul into taking state tests, this is not always the case. Believe it or not some students look at these long, grueling tests and decide they require too much work. Yeah, you heard me right. Some students will blow off a high stakes test no matter how much you plead with them and stress the importance of the results. Some students will make a paltry effort, others will mark down anything. Yes, it's true. Some students will intentionally sabotage a high stakes test simply because they "don't feel like doing it". What can a teacher do about this? Not much, if anything at all. State law says under no circumstances may teachers look over student tests and ask that they redo questions or write more on a woefully inadequate essay question. Test ethics are serious business and a teacher can (and should be) fired for tampering with tests. A teacher's job is to hand out the tests, supervise the testing session and collect the tests when students finish. Nothing else. It's maddening when I watch a student not trying. I know my butt is on the line and this little angel won't put any effort into the test. Yet half of my performance as a teacher is based on 12 year olds (some with raging hormones) who would rather be doing almost anything than listening to some old man blather on about reading, writing and arithmetic. Middle schoolers are not known for being motivated to work. Pre-teens would much rather worry about who is dating who, who broke up with who, play video games and argue and squabble over the most trivial stuff you can imagine. Am I a good teacher? I don't know. You'll have to ask those 12 year olds having a spat over who wrote a love note.
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