Who Do We Fire First?

Recently, several states have switched policies on how to fire teachers when they're under budget woes.  These states, such as Indiana, will look at teacher performance.  Student test scores will be a main factor in not only who gets laid off, but also who gets a raise.

Both scenarios are mildly terrifying to new teachers (specifically, me).  In states such as New York, I could lose my job right away because of my inexperience.  Even if I'm more dedicated than the older, more experienced teachers.  In other states where teachers are ranked based on student performance, I could be punished for my students not taking state tests seriously, or for having low-ability kids.  If I don't build the relationships with my students and inspire them to do well, my career may be short lived.  Stories such as the teacher in California who committed suicide after he was ranked "less effective" than  his peers makes me wonder if performance-based evaluations are really the best method.

This brings me to the Indiana Growth Model.  The state will begin analyzing test data with the growth model this year.  It compares a student's test scores to their previous year's scores, and the current scores of student who had similar scores the year before.  Ideally, this will allow teachers to follow individual student progress, and highlight students who are on the brink of failing.  The growth model charts data on two scales: An passing scale, and an improvement scale.  Ideally, each student (and school) places above the passing line and above the improvement line (although I do not know how they determine where to set the improvement line).

After attending a presentation by the state about the growth model, my friends and I agreed that it was a sort of excuse: Yes, our kids are still failing, but look- they're improving.  Here's the problem:  If every school is being compared to all the other schools or similar statistics (socioeconomic students, etc.), then it's impossible for all schools to score about the improvement line.  Even if all schools are improving, the schools who improve less than the others will fall on the bottom end of the scale.  While it is important to consider improvement, we have to keep the bigger picture in mind:  Students are in school to learn.  Learning is not necessarily correlated to their state test scores.  But until we find a better way to "monitor" student learning, we'll have to live with the growth model.