Experts Denounce Teacher Testing, MCAS

Sitting in her eighth grade classroom in the shadow of Mather Tower, Cheryl T. Haynes, a 24-year-old veteran teacher, can remember when teacher testing was not a controversial issue.

Shortly after Haynes became certified and started teaching at Cambridge's Martin Luther King Jr. School, teacher testing was phased out.

But the issue arose again in last year's gubernatorial race after the result of an initial April testing revealed that 59 percent had failed.

Then-acting Governor A. Paul Cellucci made the issue a campaign platform. Since has win, he has furthered his campaign promises to expand teacher accountability.

On Jan. 20, he proposed a bill that would test veteran as well as prospective teachers and get rid of teachers who fail.

While education experts support the general concept of testing, many are concerned by the implications of extending testing to veteran teachers.

"I think the concept of testing incoming students for basic skills is an entirely legitimate format," said S. Paul Reville, chair of the Massachusetts Educational Reform Review Committee and a lecturer at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. "[However,] I think using that same criteria to remove teachers is completely foolhardy."

Others, like King School principal Joseph E. McKeigue, question the validity of the tests themselves.

"I don't understand where [Cellucci] is getting his educational advice. There's no correlation between teacher competency and taking tests," he said.

McKeigue has a different method of testing, where he personally evaluates each teacher at his school every four years.

"How do you measure someone's ability to be passionate about their subject area? You don't measure those things in tests," he said.

While Cellucci has been fighting to test teachers, Massachusetts has introduced statewide student testing in the hopes of producing student accountability.

The statewide Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests were implemented last May. Students in the fourth, eighth and 10th grades are given open-ended questions to test their knowledge of English, science and math.

But opponents say the MCAS has the same narrow focus as the teacher tests.

"[The MCAS] doesn't teach creativity. It doesn't test how far a child has come over the course of the year....All these things come into play when evaluating children," Haynes said.

"There's merit to be asking students to be accountable in school. I'm not sure the system of testing and how it's being implemented is the best way," McKeigue said.