It's not about the test

Ted Shaw, a professor of law at Columbia Law School, made an interesting and appropriate comment about tests while speaking on the Brian Lehrer show on Monday, about the results of a Supreme Court decision on the New Haven Fire fighter's case. He said we should not simply determine the worth of a firefighter based on a single test.

We in education concur. A student's achievement in schools should not be determined by one test. I would like to see portfolios and tests in a fifty fifty combination to determine student achievement. Education is in a quagmire. Teachers who are some of the most educated workers in any profession and are ruled by bosses who have never been members of the educational profession. Didn't the auto industry new head, Ed Whitacre, recently say, "I don't know anything about cars."

Peter Senge may have had a good idea many decades ago, I'm only sorry the educational industry adopted many of his ideas. Arne Duncan is not a teacher, he is a CEO. Now we know how CEO's operate and fair in this country. I only hope real teachers have some say and impact on is decisions, but I doubt it as I teach in NYC and know that teachers get too little respect in our city from its educational leaders. Remember teachers are highly educated in their filed of expertise while the leaders are barely literate in the industry they lead.