PLN 19

What matters in the post "Teaching, Testing and Counseling" on the blog "Webblogg-ed", is the fact that teachers are going to be treated differently and their salaries changed depending on the test scores of their students. I believe that this is a totally fair thing. Teachers need an incentive to do their job and do it well. But there are some problems I see with this new method. One is that sometimes it is the kids’ fault, for not paying attention in class, or being difficult and "un-teachable." Kids like this could cause a problem, because if these kids don't learn, it is their own fault, and the teacher should not have to pay. Another problem is what if kids don't test well, or straight up don't get the subject. In my own personal experience, I did not understand parts of my math class last year, it would take me 15 minutes to work out a problem. But I guess it was the teachers method, or it just took time to sink in, because this year after summer vacation, I can do the same type of problems in my head and twice as fast as before. A third problem that I can find in this system, is that some teachers will now only focus on test scores. My school already focuses a lot on writing because the test results were so bad in that area last year. So now I am doing a lot of writing in almost every class but geometry. If this new system comes in to play then the schools will have a bunch of kids who test well, but it doesn't necessarily mean that those same kids learned what they were suppose to in the class. Obviously, this new system has flaws, and it probably won't work to the benefit of everyone.