Who does the MSP really assess? Students? Teachers? Schools? Superintendents?
Is the MSP so proficient that it can truly assess all of these groups?
This is a compelling topic to analyze because of the incredible amount of money it takes to administer this test across the state. In a time, where budgets are incredibly tight and resources are “tapped”, an expensive assessment tool may or may not be the best choice. Especially, in lieu of the negative effect these dwindling resources have on students.
This is also compelling because teachers’ evaluations are connected to students’ results. Teachers with students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are unfairly tested. In almost all cases, their test scores are lower (OSPI website) than their contemporaries with students of higher socio-economic backgrounds. However, these teachers are being held to the same academic bar. Is this fair? If not, how do we assess our teachers?
Not clear how anyone expects a single test, administered only to students, to assess teacher performance. I'm not even sure these tests measure student performance all that accurately. And I think we need to start there before we make judgments on teacher performance or anything that isn't directly addressed by that test.
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