Testiness in the Tarheel State

NEA Today, Sep 1998

In North Carolina, NEA members take on a teacher competency test--ad pass wih flying colors.

To use end-of-grade test results as the sole basis for forcing teachers to take a basic competency test is "arbitrary, irrational, punitive, and counterproductive to our efforts to improve the learning environment at low performing-schools."

These stinging words came from Gaston County, North Carolina, superintendent Edward Sadler, in an affidavit directed at state education authorities.

You can just imagine what teachers were saying.

This spring, the state tried to get teachers, guidance counselors, librarians, and principals in its 15 "lowestperforming schools" to take portions of a general competency test devised for Florida state college juniors-even though researchers found the test an invalid gauge of teaching expertise or knowledge of subject content.

By singling out these 247 peopleout of a North Carolina teaching force of 80,000-the state sparked a nearrebellion among NEA members.

The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) pledged to support any educator who boycotted the test, fought in court for a preliminary injunction to stop the exam, and lobbied in the state legislature to change the law that authorized it.

The pressure worked. In June, legislators finally agreed to changes in the Excellent Schools Act-passed in 1997 in an effort to raise teaching salaries and standards.

The outcome: No North Carolina teacher will be required to take this meaningless competency test in 1998.

One caveat: In the upcoming school year, the principal or state assistance team assigned to a low-performing school may recommend to the State Board of Education that a certified staff member whose performance "is impaired by a lack of general knowledge" be required to take a general knowledge test.

Helping shift legislative debate toward this compromise was a broad alliance that included NCAE, the Gaston and Edgecombe county school boards, the State Board of Education, and even members of assistance teams working at the 15 targeted schools.

Assistance teams are in a better position to assess teacher performance than any paper-and-pencil test, notes team member Richard Greene-a retired principal-in an affidavit supporting the NCAE lawsuit.

"Assistance team members interact with staff over the course of the school year," Greene explains, "and teachers are provided objective, individualized feedback and instruction."

That kind of feedback has helped teachers at the William R. Davie Middle School in Halifax County boost seventh and eighth graders' math and reading scores-despite student poverty, shortages of everything from copying equipment to computers, and a meager $5,000 budget to meet the professional development needs of a staff of 37.

"Sure, teachers have to be held accountable for student achievement," says NEA member Lutricia Lynch, principal of the Davie school. "But they should be allowed to prove themselves by being observed working with students.

"As long as we're making progress and showing growth," Lynch adds, "that should be taken into consideration by the state."

NCAE President

Joyce Elliott agrees. "If handled badly," Elliott says, "teacher competency testing serves only to drive out good teachers who choose to stay at low-performing schools.

"Rather than being scapegoated for problems beyond their control," Elliott adds, "these teachers should be supported in their efforts to overcome obstacles to learning."

The moral of this story: There has to be a better way.

"We have to find ways to hold everybody accountable," notes Lynch, one of 10 co-plaintiffs in the Association lawsuit.

"A process should be developed so that everybody in education improves -parents, teachers, students, and lawmakers. Name one profession," Lynch challenges, "that does not start out in education!"