I can't imagine that we'll get away with this. The NEA is bound to find some way to stop it. I mean, come on, requiring our teachers to pass competency tests? Unbelievable.
But critics - including some union officials and school administrators - say the program is too rigorous. One principal in Arizona said it's a barrier in recruiting teachers and that people are less attracted to the profession the more testing they need to go through.Those of you in out of Arizona might not realize the sorry state of our public education system here, though I know public education is pretty bad all over. I think the barrier to recruiting good teachers is that good people are turned off by the unions, which have the system in a head lock, and the current curriculum, which gets farther and farther away from quality academics.
Arizona caved on the AIMS testing by declaring lower and lower acceptable scores until they got a sufficient percentage passing. If this teacher testing actually goes into effect, I see it having much the same future.
Posted by Vox at October 17, 2005 09:12 AM | Arizona