Teaching

[Lamplighter]

Griff, I really appreciate your response about Common Core standards and testing.
I hope this can be a beginning to a more in depth discussion...

...the assessments are tied in to teacher pay and retention. At the state level,
the assessments are used to punish poorly performing schools,
which I read as low income schools, by reducing state funding. ...

First, let me say I think I understand these thoughts and
agree that both ideas above are inappropriate on their face.
Teacher pay and retention are management issues, not education issues;
and reducing state funding for poor performance smacks of
"...beatings will continue until morale improves..."

In my own career, I have worked with staffs of educated and professional people,
and have seen first hand how threatening even a discussion of testing can,
and does, lead to issues of job security, etc.
But I'd like to set those issues aside for now as labor/management issues.

I have to go out of town today, but will come back to this thread tomorrow...