My Letter to my Senator about Student Scores and Teacher Evaluations

Dear Senator,

I am writing in response to proposed legislation that I read about online. I am a middle school teacher at South Middle School in the Van Buren Public Schools. I spoke with you a few weeks ago at the Capital Building. I have sincere concerns about some of the legislation that is being drafted. Today’s news has proposed legislation that would make student test scores be 50% of a teacher’s evaluation. This is alarming to me because I feel that doing so would not reflect a teacher’s efficacy, but rather the multitude of factors that impact a student’s life in and out of the classroom.

I have won several awards for my teaching. In 1998, I was recognized by the Sallie Mae Corporation as Michigan’s Outstanding First Year Teacher. In 2002, I was recognized by the Michigan Council for the Social Studies as Michigan’s Social Studies Teacher of the Year for the middle school level. My classroom has been featured on NPR. While in many years, my students’ test scores were above my colleagues, there have been years where my colleagues had students with superior test scores than me. I work hard at my job. I go beyond what is expected of me. I read constantly about different ways to teach and help my students learn. I contribute to the field of education by active participation on Twitter (@mrandrewlindsay) as well as blogging, mentoring, and working with pre-service teachers. To deem my efforts as ineffective is extremely discouraging especially considering the almost arbitrary nature of how students are selected for my classroom.

The past two years I have not been in a social studies classroom. Two years ago, the principal of the building in which I teach asked me to move to an At Risk teaching position to help our academically neediest students with remedial reading, writing, and math. Her logic was that she would take her strongest teachers and put them in positions where they could make the greatest impact. My students’ test scores for that first year were very low compared to my colleagues. Why would I ever want to be put in that position again if 50% of my evaluation, my pay, and my job security would be based on working with some of our most difficult students? Even if the evaluation process was based on individual student performance, the struggling, non-motivated students would severely impact my teaching credibility as it relates to evaluation, pay, and job security. Basing so much emphasis on test scores has the potential to drive a wedge among teachers, with our neediest students left as the “ugly step-children” that no one wants to teach. These are the kids that deserve our strongest, most dependable teachers not the teachers who get “stuck” with them.

I am not afraid of accountability. However, students are not like cars. The “raw materials” as they relate to kids are not identical. They come to us from all different socio-economic, academic, and ethnic environments. We do a remarkable job taking all students from where they are when they arrive to a higher level of academic proficiency. The same can not be said about most other nations in the world. The same can not be said about our own nation just a scant 50 years ago.

I am a moderate Republican. I don’t universally oppose tenure reform. Until recently, I felt like I didn’t have anything to worry about. I work hard. I teach where I’m told to teach, even if it’s a more difficult assignment. However, to determine my ability as a teacher based on a test that many students don’t feel motivated to try hard to succeed on, is not fair and is not representative of my abilities, my efforts, and the abilities of my students.

Thank you for reading my email.

Andrew Lindsay

Canton, Michigan