Instead of recognizing the impact poverty and language barriers actually have on educational outcomes, the “education reformers” claimed that if we just hold teachers accountable, test scores will go up and students will succeed.
Leaving out the significant under-funding that exists for Connecticut’s poorer districts, the “reformers” are convinced that the focus on standardized test scores can take the place of dealing with the barriers students face and the lack of adequate resources that are being devoted to our children’s education.
Governor Malloy went so far as to make it clear that he doesn’t mind a policy of teaching to the test, as long as test scores go up.
As a result of this type of thinking, instead of dealing with the under-funding, Connecticut’s new “education reform” law leads with a new teacher evaluation program. Further, it’s a teacher evaluation system that relies on standardized test scores as a key measurement of whether a teacher should be allowed to keep teaching or whether they should be fired.
But the reformers can’t dismiss the fact that test scores are driven by factors well beyond the control of the teachers.
According to the Connecticut Department of Education, Weston spends a total of $45,503 per pupil, per year, with $24,471 of that going for “direct instructional expenditures.”
Twenty miles down the road, Bridgeport, Connecticut spends $13, 101 per student, per year, of which $8,037 goes for “direct “direct instructional expenditures.”
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