The smart-alecky middle schooler was getting A\u2019s in all subjects except history, where he was scoring F\u2019s.\u00a0 The history teacher asked what the problem was. Brimming with snotty self-confidence, the kid coolly demanded a payoff. Very simple, he said. He knew the teacher\u2019s evaluation depended on his grades. This school had a performance-based pay system, so his test results would affect his teachers\u2019 future pay. The kid was extorting money from all his other teachers to score A\u2019s on tests, so they could get their pay increases.<\/p>\n
This was not a New Mexico school district. It was an episode of an undistinguished TV sitcom called \u201cTil Death.\u201d New Mexico does not currently have a performance-based pay system because there is widespread disagreement between the Martinez administration and \u2013 so far \u2013 a majority of legislators on how to assess performance or even whether it should be done. But, oh boy, did that story hit home!<\/p>\n
The show is not produced here. Apparently, New Mexico is not unique in being deeply confused about how to pay teachers.<\/p>\n
`\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In December the Santa Fe school board approved a resolution titled \u201cOde to Joy,\u201d proposing to bring back the “love and joy of teaching and learning.” It\u2019s a statement of wishes rather than policy, acknowledging but protesting that Santa Fe is forced to comply with the standard testing and evaluation programs.<\/p>\n
A substitute teacher told me recently the worst thing about New Mexico schools is that they are dominated by fear. This teacher sees the system from other teachers\u2019 classrooms, so she has a wide perspective. Teachers are afraid, she said, and that fear is communicated to students.\u00a0 Love of learning is not, she said.<\/p>\n
I hear this theme over and over. I\u2019ve been talking with teachers who poured out their frustrations with a system, which, they say, doesn\u2019t let them teach, forces them to be test administrators, and scares them with a punitive evaluation program.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as if New Mexico\u2019s education system had a sterling track record. We all know it needs radical improvement just to catch up with the average of the states and that improvement is critical to economic growth. We\u2019ve been hearing this for decades.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, New Mexico and the country have been going through an epidemic \u2013 maybe \u201cplague\u201d is a better word \u2013 of performance measurement. We want our public institutions to be accountable for delivering the services we assign to them, and performance measurement is the standard way we demand that accountability. The highly controversial teacher evaluation system is currently New Mexico\u2019s most visible manifestation of performance measurement mania.<\/p>\n
What gets measured gets done, says the clich\u00e9. Problem: What the measurers choose to measure isn\u2019t always the most important thing, or the thing that will lead to meaningful insight.\u00a0 A friend of mine teaches 12th<\/sup> grade English. He says his evaluation will be based on the test scores of students in 9th<\/sup>,\u00a0 <\/sup>10th<\/sup> and 11th<\/sup> grades. There is no test for 12th<\/sup> grade. His evaluation depends on students he has never taught. That\u2019s just one of his concerns as he contemplates putting his economic future in jeopardy by retiring early.<\/p>\n Love of learning by itself is not the answer. But it\u2019s an essential component. Before we even consider test results, we have to be concerned with the more basic problem of getting students to show up instead of dropping out. It\u2019s pretty important for them to want to be there.\u00a0 How do you measure enthusiasm?<\/p>\n A little Asian country called Bhutan has an official index called Gross National Happiness. Though it\u2019s astonishing to most of us, that\u2019s what gets measured in Bhutan. It was instituted by their king in the 1970s.<\/p>\n Perhaps we ask the Public Education Department to study the reports published by the government of Bhutan and then revise the evaluation system accordingly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The smart-alecky middle schooler was getting A\u2019s in all subjects except history, where he was scoring F\u2019s.\u00a0 The history teacher asked what the problem was. Brimming with snotty self-confidence, the kid coolly demanded a payoff. Very simple, he said. He … Continue reading