Assessing Teachers Through Student Test Scores
There has been much controversy when deciding whether or not student test scores can be used as an adequate way to assess teachers. More commonly the term for describing student test scores is "student achievement levels". Many studies show that there is in fact a direct correlation between student achievement levels and the quality and experience of the teacher. Russell Olwell through his studies found that, "A strong belief among policy makers and public as well as
private funding agencies is that test scores are directly related to the
quality of teaching effectiveness (Kupennintz, 2002). This relationship implies
that there could be a direct causality among teacher preparation, teacher
quality, and student achievement." Student test scores are in many cases, viewed to be important factors when determining the effectiveness of a teacher. In instances where a teacher is very well prepared and has many years of experience, student test scores generally reflect positively in correlation with these factors. Studies have also shown that student achievement levels can decrease when the attentiveness and enthusiasm of the teacher also decreases. If a teacher is not able to spend quality educational time with his or her students than the test scores of the students will general reflect this, in a negative manner. These theories support the conclusion that student achievement levels should in fact be used to assess the quality of teachers.
On the contrary, there are many researchers that feel that student achievement levels cannot be used as an adequate way to assess the overall quality of teachers. There are many other factors that affect a student's test taking scores and abilities and the scores are not completely due to actions of the teacher. Educational researcher Cody Ding explains, "Thus, the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement needs to be further examined carefully. Although there is a theoretical basis for such a relationship, the evidence is far from convincing. In addition, the data on teacher effectiveness are often affected by uncontrolled and complex variables unrelated to schools, pupils, and the teaching act(Ding, Cody, Educational Research Quarterly)." He further explains the uncontrolled and complex variables that are completely unrelated to teacher effectiveness that can also affect the test scores of students. There are many students that are simply not comfortable in test taking situations and therefore underperform, regardless of the quality of their teacher. There are also many schools where because of lack of funding or socioeconomic issues, teachers are not able to have the proper resources to thoroughly educate their students. This would in turn lead to lower test scores, but the teacher may in fact be perfectly qualified and doing all that he or she can with the given resources. Other circumstances may also arise that cause students to underperform on tests that cannot be related to the teacher or teaching methods used to educate the children. In these situations, it would be unfair and inadequate to use student achievement levels to assess the quality of the teacher.
Test scores can be used as a valuable tool to track the progress of students in their learning environments. In some cases it can also be used to correctly identify the correlation between achievement levels and teacher quality levels. In other cases, it would be irresponsible to solely base the quality of the teacher off the corresponding scores of their students.
On the contrary, there are many researchers that feel that student achievement levels cannot be used as an adequate way to assess the overall quality of teachers. There are many other factors that affect a student's test taking scores and abilities and the scores are not completely due to actions of the teacher. Educational researcher Cody Ding explains, "Thus, the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement needs to be further examined carefully. Although there is a theoretical basis for such a relationship, the evidence is far from convincing. In addition, the data on teacher effectiveness are often affected by uncontrolled and complex variables unrelated to schools, pupils, and the teaching act(Ding, Cody, Educational Research Quarterly)." He further explains the uncontrolled and complex variables that are completely unrelated to teacher effectiveness that can also affect the test scores of students. There are many students that are simply not comfortable in test taking situations and therefore underperform, regardless of the quality of their teacher. There are also many schools where because of lack of funding or socioeconomic issues, teachers are not able to have the proper resources to thoroughly educate their students. This would in turn lead to lower test scores, but the teacher may in fact be perfectly qualified and doing all that he or she can with the given resources. Other circumstances may also arise that cause students to underperform on tests that cannot be related to the teacher or teaching methods used to educate the children. In these situations, it would be unfair and inadequate to use student achievement levels to assess the quality of the teacher.
Test scores can be used as a valuable tool to track the progress of students in their learning environments. In some cases it can also be used to correctly identify the correlation between achievement levels and teacher quality levels. In other cases, it would be irresponsible to solely base the quality of the teacher off the corresponding scores of their students.
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