Asphyxiating Education

[jopacaco]

8. So we sacrifice a generation of students for an experiment

As someone who has been in the classroom for more than 30 years, it is not working. Proven instruction is being thrown out because it does not translate well to the test. Social Studies does not get tested so it is given less and less emphasis and time. So we will have students who don't know history and will believe the rewritings of the media and politicians.
Teachers are discouraged and teaching content that they feel is not suited to their students but have no choice because everyone must make measurable gains on the test. Thanks to this administration, jobs are now tied to student test scores. Hungry, poor students in abusive, drug addicted households must make the appropriate gains or it is the teacher's fault and there is no money to offer any additional support to these kids. I spend a lot of my own money buying essentials for my classroom.
I used to tell students what a great profession teaching was, now I tell students to find another career.