Are there any teachers who think state exam scores should be the dominating factor of teacher evaluations? Do they really believe that those high-stakes test provide a genuine reflection of a teacher’s value? Do they agree that teachers who work with students with low test scores should be put on probation and/or fired?

I’m really wondering about this. Teacher evaluation via student high-stakes test scores is on an unstoppable march, and it’s a non-negotiable for states if they want a piece of President Obama and Secretary Duncan’s Race to the Top billions. Last week, NYC Mayor Bloomberg took a big step in this direction, digging in his heels on the test-scores- or-your-job crusade.

I’m distressed. The obsessively stat-driven business model (specifically using state exam stats) doesn’t work in classrooms. Teachers know this. Using data to drive instruction is good, but that’s not the same as basing someone’s competence on students’ scores on one pressure-laden exam. State test scores just don’t give an accurate picture of student achievement, no matter how badly Bloomberg or Duncan want it to.

My students’ SAT scores don’t reflect the learning happening in my 12th grade English class. There the students are leading discussions on The Kite Runner, making connections within and beyond the text. They are speaking publicly and taking ownership over their learning. They’re realizing that the teacher is not the gatekeeper of knowledge and discoveries. They’re doing standards-based creative and expository writing inspired by the text. They are taking responsibility for completing assignments thoroughly and working on self-advocating when they need extra assistance. It’s not perfect, but I know there is forward progress. I can see it in their written work and in their in-class actions.

When I administered a practice SAT test as part of a school-wide “interim assessment” this week, the results were low. The timed testing environment was stressful, and many students worked slightly slower than the pacing clock permitted, leading kids to become frustrated and bomb the test.

I’ll focus with the students on working more quickly through timed tests, but really, I find that skill somewhere toward the bottom of the priority list of what high-needs students have to get out of 12th grade. In addition to the covering the standards, I’m looking to build confidence and responsible risk-taking, networking abilities, technological savvy, awareness of current events, and, most of all, intellectual curiosity. I don’t want to give undue precious time to beating the clock on Scantron tests— a skill that’s not nearly as transferable or important in college or the real world.

I fear that my evaluation under the Duncan-Bloomberg system would declare me an utter failure; I know that I’m not. I fear that I’d be kicked out of the profession I love because I hadn’t prepped my kids enough for a specific kind of timed test. Under evaluation-by-test-score-system, my class would be all test prep, all the time. Otherwise I couldn’t be confident that I could continue to keep my much-needed job.