Evaluation process hits sour note with music teacher

A Gwinnett County elementary school chorus and percussion ensemble recently earned the honor of performing at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum earlier this month for President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter.

The teacher who rehearsed the 80 students for hours and oversaw the moving performance says none of that effort will affect her evaluation. Because music teachers in Georgia, as with other teachers, are judged now by a fill-in-the-bubble test.

"Not one ounce of the work my students poured into this special concert can be measured on a standardized test. All the work I put into this concert will not show up on any "growth model" put out by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement," says J.G. Dyer Elementary School music teacher Sherry Coulombe.