Welcome Back
I hope everyone’s first days of the new school year went well. By now I feel you have heard enough about the new evaluation system, school grades and data driven decision making. Many of us long for the days when we could do what we love to do, Teach Kids!
NMACT has fielded more calls about school issues than I can remember. What this indicates to me is that with all these changes being implemented experienced teachers are becoming worried about their jobs. Is this what the PED wants? Once again we believe that we will not see a significant increase in teacher non-renewals this year. There are presently to many problems in the evaluation system to successfully withstand legal challenges.
The state of New York administered the PARCC test this year and their proficiency rates dropped dramatically. A lot of “finger pointing” going around but it does seem the cut scores for proficiency were increased. I would be surprised if similar results didn’t occur here.
Another interesting national note is there seems to be a grassroots movement among parents to exercise their rights and refuse to let their children participate in “high stakes” tests. One of their reasons is that they see no benefit to their children. Imagine spending all of this money to create a test that students refused to take. I would like to see the PED’s response to that but I am just One New Mexico Teacher.
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Even though my high school received an “A” in the state grading system, the first days of teacher meetings were the most depressing of my career!! The push toward the test, the overwhelming amount of paperwork that goes with the new evaluation, and the general attitude from the state that I am not a good teacher . . . . . All of this made me miserable until students came. With kids in my classroom, I can identify and monitor the learning . . . and I can see their improvement for myself!