Education Week - October 31, 2012 - 22

EDUCATION WEEK

OCTOBER 31, 2012

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Test Scores Should Play Smaller Role in Evaluation LETTERS to the EDITOR Centralized Schools Are Not the Solution
To the Editor: Justin Baeder asks a lot of questions in his recent blog post about “Equity and Waning Local Control” (On Performance blog, edweek. org, Oct. 9, 2012), to the extent that it’s possible to decipher what exactly he’s arguing. He seemingly criticizes the United States’ federalist structure for creating “an extremely loose confederation” of schools that underperform “tightly coordinated, centralized system[s]” like Finland or Singapore on studentachievement scores. But if Mr. Baeder were to glance at the Program for International Student Assessment’s worldwide rankings, he would discover that not all countries with centralized school systems have high results. Low-scoring nations like Italy and Greece also have centralized systems with national standards, suggesting that giving greater power over our schools to bureaucrats in Washington is not the educational panacea that many pundits and (perhaps?) Mr. Baeder claim it is. To the contrary, America’s educational system is overly centralized already. The U.S. Department of Education has intervened in state school systems several times over the past two decades with laws like No Child Left Behind, and student achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress has only stagnated. Mr. Baeder points to the failure of such “poorly conceived legislation” in his article. So, what makes him think that greater control will give different results? Casey Given
State Policy Analyst Americans for Prosperity Foundation Arlington, Va.

To the Editor: Everyone in education seems to be choosing sides in the Chicago teachers’ strike, especially now that it’s over. One of the major issues in the strike was the percentage of a teacher’s overall evaluation that would be based on student test scores (“Chicago Dispute Puts Spotlight on Teacher Evaluation,” Sept. 19, 2012). This is an issue in states and districts across the country, and it appears, as it did in Chicago, that the most commonly suggested percentage from those in legislative authority is 50 percent. I see nothing wrong with basing part of a teacher’s evaluation on student test scores, but 50 percent is way out of line. There are so many variables, and effective teaching is so complex, that we must give more weight to the qualitative side of the equation and limit the impact of student test scores to a reasonable and defensible percentage. Michael Barlow
Founding Member Barlow Education Management Services LLC Oklahoma City, Okla.

Hispanic parents in their children’s education is one creative way to address Hispanic students’ poor academic performance. School administrators must take steps to make Hispanic parents feel welcome in the school by providing all necessary forms in Spanish as well as providing adequate translation services for parent-teacher conferences or advertisements for school events in Spanish as well as English. Hispanic students will make up a large portion of our school systems from now on. As such, their ability to thrive academically is an important issue for administrators. By failing to allow Hispanic parents to be involved in their children’s educations, schools are perpetuating discrimination by robbing those students of an important source of support, thus making academic achievement that much harder. Addressing such issues is necessary to ensure that discriminatory practices are eliminated from the American school system. Kayleigh Williams
Chapel Hill, N.C.

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Peacemaking Is Crucial For Teachers, Students
To the Editor: I read with great interest Christopher L. Doyle’s Commentary “The 9/11 Generation: An Exit Strategy for Moral Hardness in the Classroom” (Sept. 12, 2012). With an anthropologist’s eye and brimming heart, Mr. Doyle enumerates the ways in which we all have become desensitized to the violence that pervades our lives today. He unabashedly calls us all to task and demands that we make a stand. As educators, our paramount responsibility is to engender a deep sense of right and wrong in the minds of those in our care. How can we possibly wish this for our students if we ourselves do not also make a shift? It’s about peacemaking every single day, in what we do and who we are. Thank you for this beautiful and important clarion call. Seth D. Webb
Instructional Leader, Upper Elementary Free Horizon Montessori School Golden,Colo.

Article Spotlights Needs Of Hispanic Parents
To the Editor: As the article “‘Gateway’ Districts Struggle to Serve Immigrant Parents” (Oct. 3, 2012) makes clear, Hispanic students are being unfairly discriminated against in school districts across the country. Many schools are consistently neglecting to provide parents with necessary documentation in Spanish, making it impossible for non-English-speakers to access their children’s grades and disciplinary reports. Not only is this a discriminatory practice, it also contributes to the low performance of Hispanic students on state standardized tests. By preventing Hispanic parents from involvement with their children’s education, these students are being deprived of a needed resource, as parental involvement is a crucial factor in promoting students’ academic success and engagement with their education. Involving

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Education Week - October 31, 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 31, 2012