http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-lausd28-2009jan28,0,6445707,full.story
I never been a union member, and think they are very counterproductive most of the time. Like when they take money from my wife’s paycheck for their so called dues. Unions do have their benefits of course, just not enough for me.

I hate it when I see teachers on strike. What are they telling their students that when they don’t get their way, just whine and throw a fit and quit. There has to be another solution to their issue that does not cause harm (not talking about physical harm) to the students.

Economy is in the toilet right now and everyone is hurting. Cut backs is in every ones mind. L.A. Teachers believe cutting these test will help financially and they are right But how can you support a boycott when the tests are increasing test scores.

Duffy remains skeptical.

“The pig does not get fatter when you weigh it 10 times a day,” Duffy said. “And if the test scores do go up, isn’t it phony? Because what you are doing is teaching to the test, teaching a subject that has been narrowed down radically. We’re not creating smarter kids. We’re creating smarter test takers.”

I have been a wrestler pretty much my entire life. The fact is, the pig does change weight every time you weigh it. One of my teammate had a technique if he was a little bit overweight at weigh in time. He would go and stand on his head for two minutes and when he came back he made weight. Explain that science teachers. Each time the students take the test they are exposed to questions they may not have seen or thought about before. Standardize tests is more about experience or exposure than knowledge. If a 1st grade student never seen a yacht before or read about one they would not get a question about a yacht correct. In a way it is showing you what you do not know, not what you do know.

I do agree teaching to the test is wrong and is not the shift needed in 21st Century Education. I also agree that we should be educating and not just taking tests all the time. We need students to create. As the article stated

Emerson English teacher Cecily Myart-Cruz. “We can come up with our own assessments in our classroom, and we do — every day.”

Quality teachers assess in their classroom everyday in many different ways. Written Standardized tests are not the only method to see where your student is at.

Top officials, however, had concluded that too many instructors failed to enforce high standards or didn’t focus properly on teaching the specific skills and knowledge required by the state.

So we fire or place teachers in a position where they can succeed. We do not let them keep failing the students. Pick your team that will give you high standards. Find the individuals you want on your Bus and get them.

Lets look at how we Assess that will save money and more importantly do what is best for the Students.