Friday, January 22, 2016
Friday morning I found myself in Snellville at Centerville Elementary School to take photos of teachers doing their thing. The photos would highlight a story on Gwinnett County’s school system as one of the first in Georgia to implement a teacher compensation system based on merit — pay teachers based on how well students perform on standardized tests and other academic measures. There has been a lot of backlash from teachers across the county and the state.
For years, teachers have watched their students half-heartedly bubble in the answer sheets on tests, creating Christmas tree shapes or other random patterns instead of trying to answer the questions. The students were harming only themselves, but soon they will have the power to end the careers of their teachers as Georgia prepares to use the results in half of each teacher’s job review. Teachers say it’s unfair to judge them for things beyond their control, from student apathy to poor parenting, and they say many of the tests, especially those created by school districts with little or no input from professional test makers, are deeply flawed. Their backs against the wall, they see a last opportunity in this legislative session to push lawmakers to roll back the testing mandate.
The new test-based evaluation system could go into effect as soon as next year, even though the federal policies that drove its creation have been reversed. Georgia required the new system in 2013 under an agreement with Washington, but last month, with a broad bipartisan consensus that testing had gone too far, Congress and the president tore up the law behind that agreement. Georgia is now free to do what it wants with testing, but advocates of the current system argue that tests are a crucial, objective measure of performance and that lousy teachers will be allowed to flourish without them.
Kam Payne (center) teaches her fifth grade advanced math class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016. Gov. Nathan Deal recently referenced in his state of the state address Gwinnett’s school system as one of the first in Georgia to implement a teacher compensation system based on merit — pay teachers based on how well students perform on standardized tests and other academic measures. JONATHAN PHILLIPS / SPECIAL
Kam Payne (center) teaches her fifth grade advanced math class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Joshua Orji (right) and Jadan Rodriguez work on an assignment in their fifth grade advanced math class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Rochelle Broughton (center) teaches her second grade class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Rochelle Broughton (right) hands a book on Martin Luther King Jr. to Justin Kimbro and Daniel Cambric during her second grade class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Fourth grader Alex Clark (right) works on an assignment in class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Shelby Stephens (left) works with Janye Ingram during her fourth grade class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Fourth grade teacher Tremaine Carter (top left) helps Lydia Panu, Francesca Davis, Alena White and Marisol Gonzalez as they use a laptop to work on an assignment in class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Spencer Stevens (left), Michael Johnson, Braeden Martin and Mikias Mesay use a laptop to work on an assignment in class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
Fourth grade teacher Tremaine Carter (top right) helps Derick Figueroa, Maurilio Estrada, Tylaw Veth-Ly, Robert Cousinard and Kanye Missard as they use a laptop to work on an assignment in class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
First grade teacher Christine Ross (left) helps Aryn Scarabin with a math problem during class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.
First grade teacher Christine Ross (left) helps Brielle Timmons and Dadmawi Mesay with a math problem during class at Centerville Elementary School in Snellville on Friday, January 22, 2016.