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Technology leaders in schools understand the benefits of technology in teaching and learning. A student knowing their way around a computer and knowing how to create things with it is as integral a part of college and career readiness as any other type of literacy. Every student today needs a computer simply to do their job of being a student. Students get the most from their learning experience and become the most prepared for their future when they can use computers to create new media and as resources in taking on authentic projects through which they drive their own learning experience. But, in some ways, PARCC is working against its own mission, college and career readiness, due to the inauthenticity of the testing environment and the sheer amount of time that computers won’t be used for more authentic tasks.

Schools are now preparing their systems so that millions of students from the twelve remaining PARCC participating states can take these online exams. Each student will take just a few tests in English Language Arts and Mathematics and each test will take about an hour to complete. But, schools will likely need every hardware resource they have on hand to carry out the online testing. Preparing hardware entails putting almost every computer available in a school in a locked-down kiosk state so that students cannot access the normal parts of the computer during the exam. PARCC security specifications block access to the web and prevent certain functionality such as taking screenshots so that the tests can be kept more secure and more valid. This is despite the fact that every good educator knows that any test that can be beat by Googling an answer just isn’t a genuine test.

While schools have known the hardware needs and expectations for a while now, few have actually added any hardware to accomplish the task of the PARCC testing. From a practical standpoint, this means that ALL of a school’s technology hardware resources may be dedicated solely to this testing for significant amounts of time. Most schools will dedicate their computer labs and carts to testing for weeks or months. Many schools will need to reserve every single lab, laptop, notebook, and tablet in the entire school for up to twenty-five to thirty percent of the school year just so that they can administer the assessments. Staff will need time before each administration to configure and test their technologies for use with the PARCC infrastructure and after each test to return things to their normal state. This all amounts to time that computers won’t be used as they’re best used in schools, as tools that can be used for far more creative tasks.

PARCC has also done a dubious job in how they’ve presented their “sophisticated” online testing environment. They’ve renamed normal computer functions that nearly every student understands by the time they reach kindergarten to ones that sound far more intimidating. Each student will need to know how to use test taking features like the Answer Eliminator (point and click on a button to eliminate an answer), Equation Editor (allows for math notation like superscript), Text Extraction (highlighting), and Solution Set Graphing (clicking points on a graph). To that end, many schools have added more lessons in how to use these and other fancy sounding features in place of other computer instruction.

Some schools have even reintroduced programs that stress using what will soon be legacy tools like a computer mouse and hard wired keyboards. Some districts are buying mice for devices that don’t normally use a mouse as an input device for fear of placing some students at a disadvantage, essentially wasting money on old technology. Instead of using computers as the creative and transformative tools they can be, schools are returning to the skill and drill ways of teaching simple input methods. Again, students will be getting the short end of the stick as they spend more time learning how to use the fancy-sounding PARCC features and outmoded skills, and less time learning things like coding and digital citizenship.

So, while each student may only take a few hours to complete the exams, the repurposing of entire fleets of computers and spending time learning superfluous proficiencies will result in a reversal of what has taken years to realize, that computers are powerful tools necessary in the creation of authentic student projects. PARCC was supposed to be a different kind of test, one that skill and drill won’t help. But, at the end of these tests, students will have honed obsolete skills and students will not have created anything…except answers to a test.

Image Credit: Sean Locke Photography/Shutterstock

A member of the Massachusetts General Assembly has introduced a measure that would allow for the state’s neediest school districts to draft the most talented new teachers using a format similar to the NFL Draft.

Statistics and data from student teaching might also be considered. A student English teacher’s average essay grading time or an elementary school teacher’s bulletin board changeover time might be the difference between a first round or third round selection.

Anne Romano, Superintendent of the Pinewood school district, is cautious about the proposal, but also believes that it has some merit. “If we could somehow determine that a teacher has a strong enough bladder to make it through four class periods in a row, it would give us a clue that they’d one day be able to reach at least partially effective status on student growth objectives,” she said.

What might the potential draft day look and be like? Some speculated that the State Education Chancelor might be booed by attending parents when they come onto the stage to announce the first pick in the draft. Expect school board members and administrators from each represented district in a “war room” like setting, reacting to previous picks and pouring over their selection criteria.

“If this goes into effect, we’ll certainly be in a high stakes environment,” said school trustee Len Giordano. “We had better take every opportunity to find the best and brightest.” Giordano also wondered if school districts would be able to use current staff to “trade up” for multiple picks in the draft.

As school officials consider the potential impact, young teachers who heard of the announcement also expressed some concerns. Brandon Wallace, a junior practicum student at Alexander State College, pondered the impact of the potential draft on his social media. He asked, “I’ll have to be extra conscious about what I tweet so I don’t negatively affect my pre-draft ranking.”

Whether some might opt to enter the draft early instead of picking up a Masters degree or special education certification will remain to be seen.

When asked if bill passage might be a precursor to allowing for big signing bonuses, Strassmore responded, “Perhaps, but we probably are some time away from that.”

]]> http://www.teachingenuity.com/2014/05/10/politician-proposes-nfl-style-draft-for-new-teachers/feed/ 0 http://www.teachingenuity.com/2014/02/27/hallway-sitting-duty/ http://www.teachingenuity.com/2014/02/27/hallway-sitting-duty/#comments Thu, 27 Feb 2014 19:59:12 +0000 http://www.teachingenuity.com/?p=287 To kick off a new blog category that I will use to post rants about education in general, I’ll focus on one of my pet peeves about schools, which is what I like to call “Hallway Sitting Duty.” Walk into any school and you will find various professionals that are made to sit in the [...]]]> To kick off a new blog category that I will use to post rants about education in general, I’ll focus on one of my pet peeves about schools, which is what I like to call “Hallway Sitting Duty.” Walk into any school and you will find various professionals that are made to sit in the hall for any given period of time, usually to pester kids for their hall pass (which is another relic I’ll deal with at another time). Having done this for hours over my career, I can’t recall ever doing anything I’d consider to be critical while on hall duty.

If it’s that important for someone to see whatever it is the hallway monitor person can see, put a camera there instead. Not only is this kind of activity insulting to someone that spent four years in a college classroom and most likely more to get an advanced degree, it is borderline demeaning. Teachers certainly have better things to do and accomplish in another place in the school to support their students.

If you’re the type that’s more convinced by numbers, let’s explore the dollars and cents. The average teacher’s salary in the US in 2013 was $56,383. A typical teacher might work 1,260 hours a year in school (not counting any time they spend on work outside of the school). So, that comes to about $45 per hour. In the seven hours school is in session per school day it’s costing the school district $315 per day for each hall monitor post. That’s a total of $56,700 per hallway post, which is FRIGHTENINGLY close to the average teacher salary per year, isn’t it? So, yes, take the number of hallway monitor spots in a building and yes, it is costing a full year teacher’s salary to have EACH one of them. Today, a pretty capable camera system will run about $100 per camera on average or less.

So, let’s dedicate this lost resource of time and money to some other professional needs. These folks could be coaching instruction or helping colleagues with technology instead.

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