Note to NEA RA. Judging teachers on test scores is like doing piece work.

Later this week the NEA RA will consider a policy statement on teacher evaluation and accountability.

It’s not a great policy statement anyway. But the part that is causing the most concern is where it supports local affiliates negotiating teacher evaluation plans that use student test scores as a part of the teacher’s performance review.

Catalyst reports that although student test scores have improved dramatically in Chicago, CEO JC Brizard and others in administration are downplaying the improvement. Maybe because they don’t want teachers to get too much credit for the improvement just before negotiations. Maybe because it doesn’t fit into the current narrative they are using for a longer school day. Who knows?

But the lesson is that it is never enough.

Back in the day I worked for Uniroyal Tire and Rubber as a tire builder.

Four on a crew. Two guys in the front of the machine laying on the rubber for the tread. Two women in the back cutting the material that became the ply.

We worked piece rate.

Every time we pulled a tire off the drum, a little clicker would flip (this was pre-digital) and count the tire. The company would set a rate for an eight-hour shift. If you made rate, they put a little more money in your pay check over the base pay.

The thing was that if you made rate for a week, they would raise the rate. You became like one of those mice running  in a spinning wheel.

You always had to run a little faster chasing rate.

This required us to be somewhat strategic about how often we made rate. We would make it some shifts. Not others.

Oh, and we discovered that if you smacked the counter with the palm of your hand just at the right time, it would flip twice!

When delegates consider the policy on teacher evaluation and accountability, think about our profession. Are we here just to make rate? And if we do. Will they just raise the rate?

And here’s the Big Question.

And are we working with kids? Or tires?

One thought on “Note to NEA RA. Judging teachers on test scores is like doing piece work.

  1. That’s just the point Fred, kids are not machines and there are too many variables to consider.in that regard. IF they are going to consider merit pay, I’ve always thought incentive pay would be a better way to go. Why not encourage, instead of punishing? Obama needs to be pressed to reconsider his stance on public education, because I’m hearing ads in NJ linking the anti union stance with the President.

    I just gave myself an idea for a FB posting. 🙂

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