This year, I've had the pleasure of teaching kindergarten. One of the nicest things about it that I didn't fully realize until just this past week was that I don't have to deal with Successmaker anymore, grades 1-5 do but not kindergarten. We have our own software program, mind you, but not the god at our school known as Successmaker. Successmaker is a reading and math program used to instruct students in different areas. Before I sound old-fashioned, I have to say that obviously not all technology is terrible and even Successmaker and programs like it can be used to enhance instruction. However, we at our school have turned it into nothing short of a modern-day Savior. As I understand it, we're not alone in this misled endeavor.
We and other schools are actually going to take away P.E., Art, and Music so students can have extra time on this program. According to their data, if certain students just spend more time on the program, then they'll pass FCAT, our state standardized tests. Anyone else see a problem with taking away those specials? I sure do. What if that's the only class that a student looks forward to all day, and then you're going to take that away from them? And with the whole reason being that they'll have a better chance at passing some stupid test?
Testing is the name of the game though, and will become even more so as soon as legislation is enacted in 2014 that starts performance pay. Half of our salaries will be tied to how our students perform on tests. You think schools are too focused on helping their students pass standardized tests now? Just wait until then. It will get much worse before it gets better. I don't mean to sound like a doomsday prophet or anything, but what do you think will happen when a teacher's salary is directly tied to their students' performance on tests? Think of how much corruption will go on when that law enacts. As a kindergarten teacher, I know how easy it would be to game the system for the testing that we do in that age level. Of course, I never have gamed the system, but it sure will be more tempting when my pay is directly tied to those tests.
What's next? Are we going to start tying policeman's pay to the crime rate in the area that they patrol? Who would want to patrol in the rough areas of town then? Kind of like who's going to want to teach in the rough areas of town with this new law? Our students don't know if they're going to eat at home every night, do you really think doing homework and excelling in school is a high priority for some of them?
I talked to a friend about this law, and he thought it was a good thing. He said that teachers get tenured and then they just sit back and collect a paycheck. Really? You think teachers want to get a crappy salary and deal with 20 kids all day just because we're tenured and can collect a paycheck? I do agree that it needs to be easier to fire a bad teacher, but there's other ways of doing that. My own dad says that it's a fair way of doing it if you're measuring the growth of each student. Never mind that poverty is a huge influence of how a student does in school and you're really comparing apples and oranges when comparing my students to students at a school with a wealthier demographic.
Well, I definitely have more left in the tanks but I'll stop there for now.
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