Administrators' Panel

My favorite thing that was said at the Administrators' Panel on Monday was that standardized testing is just a piece of the pie. It is not the sole measure of teacher effectiveness or the future success of the student. I have thought recently that we are worrying too much about NCLB and I think it was refreshing to hear that people who are currently involved in education don't feel as negatively as we might think they do. I agreed with the woman when she said that there is more than one way to teach to a standard or a benchmark. "Teaching to the test" doesn't always have to be negative, because presumably, the information that is on the test is what we want our children to be learning anyways. I think if you have a negative attitude about it "teaching to the test" will become a negative thing, and it really doesn't need to be. Another thing that I found interesting from the lecture was the idea that was brought up about education as a priority. It was said that for many children, education is not a priority, it comes after sports and other activities. Really, education should be the number one priority for our students, and cocurricular activities should come second. The "Activities Director" from the lecture made his opinions about it clear: if you're not passing your classes, you don't need to play in the football game on Friday night." I think that many kids get caught up in their activities and find it hard to make time for their schoolwork. They become overly involved and can't keep up. I'm not saying that I don't support cocurricular activities, I certainly do, but I think that there needs to be a balance. Some of our students can't find that balance on our own and thats where the school might need to step in. I enjoyed this lecture very much, and I found it very enlightening to hear from people who are currently involved in the schools.

p.s. The cartoon has nothing to do with the lecture...I just thought it was funny!