Teachers, like many adults who are in contact with children, can have a big effect on their students. Pop culture references this in movies like The Dead Poets Society and television shows like Boston Public. Programs like Teach for America encourage college students to make a difference in underperforming schools. And many of us can think of at least one teacher with fond remembrance. But while the good teacher should be celebrated and thanked for his or her service, many other factors contribute to a student's performance in the classroom and on today's ubiquitous standardized tests ' which is one of many reasons why President Bush's grants for teachers whose students' test scores rise is a mishandling of funds.
On Monday, the first of 16 grants were announced, worth $42 million, including $5.5 million for Ohio. In a sort of pay-for-performance, the Bush administration is encouraging schools to set up different pay scales for teachers and principals based on test scores, though classroom evaluations will also be taken into account.
The problem with this, of course, is that teachers cannot control the outside factors that affect what their students do on testing day ' their home life, their nerves, the pressure to succeed on a single test, standardized tests that are often biased against minorities, an unsafe neighborhood or school environment and so forth.
The money will do little to fix the discrepancy between wealthy, high-performing school districts and poor, under-performing districts since it does little to improve the education system, other than throwing money at the problem. And the grants' disbursement, so close to Election Day in a year when Republicans are in danger, must raise questions about ulterior motives. Voters, parents and teachers should remain skeptical of this latest attempt by the federal government to affect the local education systems.
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