Develop a relevant measure

By Anthony Pattiz

Today’s kindergartners will begin retiring in the year 2061. Teachers have no idea what the world will look in five years, much less 50, yet we’re tasked with preparing students for life in that world.

What are the skills they need? According to international business consultant Tony Wagner, they include: critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration; leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurialism; oral and written communication skills; accessing and analyzing information; and curiosity and imagination.

Measuring teacher effectiveness means developing assessments that measure how well our students acquire these skills. Spending more money to develop low-level tests of minimum competency and basing teacher effectiveness on these tests is not the solution. This will only guarantee that teachers teach to these tests. We will produce a society of minimally competent workers unable to compete with their international counterparts.

As educator Paul Houston wisely noted, “Only on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ can people race to the top by rote memorization and answers to multiple-choice questions.”

We should not reject content. Rather, content needs to be linked to the development of needed skills. Our state should measure not merely how well our students are able to learn a given body of knowledge, but how well they are able to apply that knowledge in a variety of real world contexts.

Anthony Pattiz teaches social studies at Sandy Creek High School in Fayette County.