I am David Lockard responding to Bill Applegate's Editorial about "Merit Pay" for Cleveland teachers.
In their joint letter to key state republicans, Mayor Jackson, Eric Gordon, and Denise Link indicated that they are not capable of developing valid measures needed for high stakes purposes such as teacher evaluations. But they suggest that at least 50% of a teacher's evaluation should be determined by tests scores, a one-day snapshot of what a student may achieve under perfect conditions! how absurd to think that one test score determines the value of a teacher!
The teachers' working conditions are the students' learning environment, that's why Cleveland teachers spend many extra hours preparing lessons, tutoring, counseling, and advocating for them. On any given day, a child may or may not perform well on a test.
Let's get real. If this were truly about the kids, they would not be staffing grades four through twelve at forty-three students per teacher for the upcoming school year.
Thank you.
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