Pennsylvania Teacher’s Union argue that new teacher assessments are too heavily based on standardized tests.
Teachers Union: Pa. school assessments rely too much on tests
By AMBER SOUTH/
@AESouthPO
While local school administrators say the new school evaluation system is well rounded and comprehensive, a state teachers’ union is voicing a much different opinion.
In a press release Monday, Pennsylvania State Education Association President Mike Crossey said the School Performance Profile relies too much on standardized testing. According to him, the high stakes placed on testing means less time teaching and learning.
School officials in the Franklin County area have said they concentrated on getting their students prepared beyond the test, and the SPP system will better allow them to see where more work needs done.
“We are focusing on ensuring students have strong core skills in reading, writing and mathematics,” said Tuscarora School District Superintendent Charles Prijatelj. “When they graduate, they can go and do whatever they choose, and be capable to live life how they want to live and be competitive in the marketplace.”
Areas that did not count before – science and writing – count toward a school’s evaluation and lend to the “broader definition” of a school, according to Chris Bigger, director of curriculum for Chambersburg Area School District.
On the SPP, with the first results going public Friday, schools each get a score out of 100 points: 50 percent is based on the number of students to score proficient or better on Pennsylvania State System Assessments and Keystone Exams, 40 percent accounts for student growth, per the PA Value-Added Assessment System, and 10 percent is based on attendance, promotion and graduation rates among other things.
Teachers would prefer an assessment tool puts greater emphasis on student growth, as opposed to performance on standardized tests.
The SPP system takes the place of Adequate Yearly Progress and No Child Left Behind. Top administrators for all Franklin County school districts have said SPP is a better evaluation tool than AYP.
“The thing I’m most happy about is this is a much more accurate portrayal of school performance and provides the opportunity for a lot more factors to be considered, for a whole school picture,” Waynesboro Assistant Superintendent Wendy Royer said. “It’s more faithful to teachers and students and gives the public a much broader view of how we’re doing.”
If there is at least one thing that at least some administrators agree with the PSEA on, it is that state budget cuts undermine the success the state wants out of its schools.
“They’ve cut a billion dollars from our school funding,” Crossey said, in the news release. “So, in addition to more testing, the teachers in those classrooms are looking at larger class sizes, less resources, less personnel, fewer textbooks, less technology, less tutoring, but more tests.”
It is getting more difficult to give the state what it wants, according to Prijatelj.
“You can’t prepare kids without entrepreneurial education. You can’t prepare kids without the ability to offer them (science, technology, engineering,
mathematics).Budgets are tight and the expectations are rising,” he said.
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com and 262-4771.
