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Re: Testing Math Teachers - Unions take action
Posted:
Jul 2, 2000 12:43 PM
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Who is the test contractor for this test?
On 02 Jul 2000, [no author] wrote:
>The pilot test is scheduled to be given to unsuspecting participants
>in the mathematics summer content institutes...need to get work out
to
>participants not to take the test....besides the political
>implications shows how little DOE knows about sample populations and
>validity of test scores....spread the word.
On 01 Jul 2000, [no author] wrote:
>I for one will refuse to take any test mandated by this DOE. They
are>>(with few exceptions) a cabal of angry
>autocrats, conservative ideologues, and political hacks.
The Associated Press on July 1, 2000 carried this story at
<a>href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/183/metro/Unions_sue_to_halt_teacher_testing_plan-.shtml">http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/183/metro/Unions_sue_to_halt_teacher_testing_plan-.shtml
>
>><a
>href="http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g0406_BC_MA--TeacherTesting&&news&newsflash-massachusetts">http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g0406_BC_MA--TeacherTesting&&news&newsflash-massachusetts
>
>>Unions sue state over math teacher tests
By THEO EMERY
The Associated Press
6/30/00 8:59 PM
BOSTON (AP) -- The state's two largest teachers unions filed a
lawsuit>>in Suffolk Superior Court Friday to block the state Board of
>Education>from implementing tests for math teachers.
The complaint is not unexpected. The two unions, the Massachusetts
>Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers,
>said in May that they intended to challenge the plan.
The suit alleges the testing plan is illegal because it conflicts
with>>the state's 1993 Education Reform Act and collective bargaining
laws,
>>and discriminates against certain teachers.
Neither MTA president Stephen E. Gorrie nor MFT president Kathy Kelly
>could be reached for comment Friday.
The testing plan, proposed by Gov. Paul Cellucci and then adopted by
>the state Board of Education, calls for testing of math teachers in
>schools in which 30 percent or more students fail the math portion
of>>the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, exam.
Cellucci has said that the diagnostic test will help the state
improve>>the quality of instruction and help teachers improve their
skills. He
>>has said he plans to publicly identify teachers who fail and
and>require local communities to pay for remedial training.
Districts would seek to improve failing teachers' skills with
>"professional development plans," which could include remedial
>training in weak areas.
State Education Commissioner David T. Driscoll, who is a former math
>teacher, said the lawsuit was not unexpected.
"We are going to move ahead with our plans to pilot the test this
>summer, and we are going to move ahead with implementing the test
>until told otherwise," Driscoll said.
The teacher testing plan, unanimously supported by the state board,
>will begin as a pilot program this summer, and by fall will be
>implemented statewide, according to Department of
Education>officials.
>Marsha Cohen, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office,
said>they
>received the complaint Friday afternoon and would respond after
>reviewing the complaint.
John D'Auria, principal of Wellesley Middle School, called the
teacher>>testing plan "a simplistic way of dealing with a complicated
>problem.">"The qualities that go into a good teacher and a skillful
teacher are
>>not imbedded in the test, as far as I can see," D'Auria said. "I
>don't>have much hope that they will lead to any real changes."
He said that he hoped that urban schools, which are likely to be hit
>with most of the tests, will work together with affluent suburban
>schools to halt the testing plan.
"From my perspective, I have lost confidence in the leadership of the
>department of education, and we really need to take a stand,"
D'Auria>>said.
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