LAWRENCE: Students ask board to reject teacher evaluations

Alarmed that teachers may be jettisoned because students have not met pre-determined “student growth objectives,” a group of Lawrence High School students took their concerns to the Lawrence T

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Alarmed that teachers may be jettisoned because students have not met pre-determined “student growth objectives,” a group of Lawrence High School students took their concerns to the Lawrence Township Board of Education last week.
   Despite the students’ objections, however, the school board approved a series of state-mandated policies that implement a new teacher evaluation system at its Nov. 13 meeting.
   Depending on the grade level and academic subject being taught, part of a teacher’s evaluation score includes the academic progress made by students. Student growth objectives are academic goals that teachers and administrators set for groups of students, and may be measured by the change in a student’s test scores on standardized tests.
   A teacher may be deemed to be ineffective, partially effective, effective or highly effective, based on the new evaluation system. If a teacher is found to be ineffective or partially effective for two consecutive years, tenure charges may be filed against a teacher, which may lead to a teacher’s suspension.
   Lawrence High School seniors Viktor Krapivin and Metodi Balev told the school board that student growth objectives do not accomplish what they set out to do. Although the Achieve NJ initiative, which incorporates student growth objectives, says that “research shows effective teaching can be measured,” the two students disagreed.
   In fact, Metodi said, student growth objectives “represent nothing more than an impediment on my learning.” While teachers may have an influence on a student, that is only true as long as the teacher can command the student’s attention and focus. Learning is an ongoing process that takes place outside of the classroom, and teachers do not have any influence over a student’s study habits or work ethic, he said.
   Metodi also disagreed with attempts to quantify learning. Based on international statistics, the United States is lagging in math and science. Yet, the United States consistently produces Nobel Laureates and Fields medalists, he said. This country has produced 350 Nobel prize winners and 11 Fields medalists — the highest of any country, he said.
   ”Knowledge may be measurable, but intellect is not, and clearly intellect seems to be the catalyst in innovation, progress and discovery,” Metodi said. Test scores are not an indication of a student’s future success, he said, adding that “there is enough emphasis on testing.”
   Metodi said he knows of students who deliberately have done poorly on initial student growth objective assessments “simply in order to misrepresent their growth and help their teachers be seen in a more favorable light.” Given the emphasis on test scores, academic curiosity and higher understanding will be secondary to higher standardized test scores and teachers will teach to the test, he said.
   Viktor told the school board that during his 12 years in the Lawrence school district, he has had many teachers. He enjoyed some classes and not others, but it would be “simply libelous” to call any of those teachers ineffective or even bad, he said.
   A teacher must teach and a student must learn, Viktor said. But if a student does not want to learn, he or she will not learn. Nevertheless, the state requires an objective test of determining student growth, which in turn will be the basis for “high stakes decisions” to be made, he said.
   Research has also shown that variations in student achievement is “predominantly a product of individual and family background characteristics,” Viktor said. There are many influences on a student — teachers, principals, coaches, peers — as well as “whether or not they are sick, by the emotional issues associated with school-age relationships and any number of other factors,” he said.
   ”It is difficult to distinguish between the current teacher’s impact on the student or a previous teacher’s impact. High stakes decisions based on testing essentially forces a teacher to teach to the specific test. Schools become institutions of test taking and not of learning,” Viktor said.
   ”As a student, as a concerned citizen and as a future voter, I ask that the board take the right stance — the moral stance — and vote ‘no,’” Viktor said.
   School board President Laura Waters said that while the school board appreciated the students’ eloquence, it is mandated to adopt the new regulations or face sanctions, such as the loss of state aid to the school district. The board must adopt state-mandated policies to comply with the law, she said, adding that state law “trumps” local law.
   The school board, however, is working on a resolution that may be adopted by the board that expresses its concerns about the new policies, Ms. Waters said. The resolution will be sent on to the New Jersey School Boards Association, which may use it to lobby for changes.
   When Viktor asked whether the students could participate in writing the resolution, Ms. Waters said they could not take part. A subcommittee of the school board is working on the resolution, and it is also looking at “different kinds of protests” that would not endanger state funding to the district, she said.
   Township resident Linda Nowicki also asked what citizens can do, and school board members Bill Michaelson and Kevin Van Hise told her that “the answer is in Trenton (the state Legislature).”
   Mr. Van Hise suggested that the students take their case to their state senator and state Assembly members.
   ”There is nothing more powerful than active students contacting their elected representatives,” Mr. Van Hise said. “They don’t care about us. You guys are active and you are the future. They need to hear from you. We have very limited voices as adults.”