President Obama recently called for a cap on how much time schools spend on standardized testing. (Thinkstock)
Re: “The war on school testing,” Oct. 29 Ruben Navarrette Jr. column.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is correct that teachers are worried about being held accountable for student performance on state-mandated tests, but not for the reasons he implies. The story he recounts about the U.S. Constitution test he had to take in the eighth grade does get to the heart of teacher concerns. On state tests, there is no student accountability, and by the time the kids are 10 years old, they know it. Navarrette’s teacher had it right: If students are to do well on tests, they need to “go study some more.”
An analogy might help illuminate teacher worries. Imagine you are being held accountable for a business division. Each year you are given a new set of employees. You don’t get to hire them based on their skills or aptitudes. You don’t pay them. You can’t fire them if they don’t do their jobs and they know they will get promoted no matter how they perform. Any sane person would be concerned about being evaluated based on the performance of this group.
Peter K. Brown, Sedalia
This letter was published in the Oct. 31 edition.
Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
