Re: What Can One Expect From Systems Of Assessment (was NBPTS and Stigma)

[Tanya Sharon <ab6926@WAYNE.EDU>]

George,
I searched the archives and can't find any place I listed qualifications
for merit pay. I did list what my administrators look for when they do
required observations of teachers. These are not for merit pay but for
rating the teacher's performance. Before our latest joke of a contract,
teachers rated unsatisfactory at one school could move to another school
the following year. If rated unsatisfactory again by another administrator
I believe the district could start the process of dismissing the teacher.

As to your question about NBPTS certification in specialties:

Certification is currently offered for "Generalist" in either early
childhood (ages 3-8), middle childhood (ages 7-12) or early adolescence
(ages 11-15), in Art age 11-18, in English Language Arts in early
adolescence or adolescence and young adulthood (ages 14-18), English as a
New Language in early childhood and middle childhood or in early
adolescence and adolescence and young adulthood, exceptional needs in age
range birth to 21, Mathematics in early adolescence or adolescence and
young adulthood, Science in early adolescence or in adolescence and young
adulthood, Social Studies - History in early adolescence or adolescence and
young adulthood, and in Vocational Education in early adolescence and young
adolescence and young adulthood.

Standards are available, but certification is not yet available for English
Language Arts age 7-12, Mathematics age 7-12, Science age 7-12, Social
Studies - History age 7-12.

Tanya

At 07:28 PM 7/5/00 -0700, you wrote:
>The National Board is not just about about awarding certificates to some
>teachers, but also about promoting a vision of what constitutes good
>teaching--a vision very different from the qualifications for "merit" pay
>listed by Tanya Sharon. Is the NBPTS vision limiting or inclusive? One test
>would be to consider the classrooms described in Mike Rose's Possible
>Lives. These classes span a wide range: of grade levels, of locations, of
>subject areas, of teaching styles, and of students' race and family income,
>yet Rose's descriptions offer convincing evidence that they are all taught
>by excellent teachers. Is there anything in the standards or in the
>assessment instruments proposed by the National Board that would disqualify
>any of these teachers?
>
>By the way, in the recent messages regarding the National Board for
>Professional Teaching Standards, I haven't seen any mention of the fact
>that National Board certification is certification in a teaching specialty
>(like early childhood, or early adolescent English language arts). In this
>way it resembles the certificates hanging on the wall in your doctor's
>office (Fellow of the American College of Surgeons). That piece of paper
>doesn't tell you everything you need to know about your doctor, but it is
>evidence of expertise in a particular field.
>
>At 09:02 AM 7/4/2000 -0400, Tanya Sharon wrote:
>>I oppose merit pay because I know from my own experience and from many
>>others' that... the people who make those decisions are looking for
>>teachers who keep their rooms quiet and neat at all times, write lesson
>>plans that follow the teacher's guide books and keep those books or lesson
>>plans in the crook of their arm as they stand talking at the students.
>>Merit pay is not going to go to the best teachers in many schools.
>
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