A Copy of This Letter Appeared in the Syracuse Post Standard
In
recent years, increasing numbers of veteran teachers have found themselves
leaving a profession they love, often years before they expected to. This year, it is my turn to move away from
work I cherish because it has become increasingly challenging, and at times
impossible, to teach with integrity.
As
government and business leaders have focused on fixing what is portrayed as a
broken educational system, the mandates imposed systemically damage our schools
instead of improving them. Demands to
measure, evaluate and rank our students and teachers have taken the focus off
learning and shifted it to producing test scores. To be sure, changing instruction will often
increase test scores, but veteran educators know that learning has likely not
increased.
Standardized
tests are one measure of learning, but should not be the primary or only
measure. Instead of moving toward authentic assessment practices such as
portfolios and real life problem situations, we increasingly base decisions
about learners and educators on multiple-choice type measures. These measures
neither assess nor promote a focus on the natural curiosity and passion in
children, the traits that promote true life long learners who will transition
into successful and independent adult workers.
When
the so-called rigors of the new student and teacher evaluations were first
brought to our schools five years ago, I watched many colleagues leave because
they knew the changes would not benefit children and had the potential to
damage the schools they loved. I stayed
on out of my love for the students, who bring such joy to learning, and because I believed it was important that we in the
front lines within the school work to preserve authentic learning
practices. Unfortunately, as each year
passes, I have found my day – and my students’ day – filled up with assessment,
evaluation, and documentation, crowding out time for exploration,
collaboration, and deeper learning.
Increasing amounts of time are spent proving teachers are doing what the
standards and mandates dictate, crowding out time to plan, prepare and instruct
the kinds of lessons that engage students and lead to lifelong learning.
I
can no longer encourage six- and seven-year-old children to keep trying to
improve scores in biweekly tests that do not reflect real learning in math and
reading and actually steal chunks of valuable instruction time. I can no longer answer questions from parents
concerned about test scores and encourage them to turn to computerized programs
which do not have the power to foster interest in deep learning in their
children, and are instead too often just a form of electronic baby-sitting.
After
38 years as a teacher, I’ll miss my students so much, and I’ll miss my
colleagues, some of whom look at me with envy for being able to leave, but my
leaving is bittersweet. The authentic
and engaging differentiated learning community we spent our careers striving to
create is being replaced by mandated, scripted instructional programs with a
“one size fits all” focus. I hope that
soon we will re-awaken to what real learning is and turn our focus toward
supporting our schools and their children in these changing and challenging
times, working to strengthen instead of break down, our schools.
Karyn
Dieffenderfer
