Candidates Q&A: Should Standardized Test Scores Decide Teachers’ Pay?

Voters will choose two of five candidates Nov. 6 to represent them on the South Bay Union School District Board of Trustees.

Vying are challengers Barbara Elliott-Sanders, Lincoln Pickard and Cheryl Quinones and incumbents Dave Lopez and Nick Inzunza.

The first question in a weekly series:

What role should standardized test scores play in a teacher's salary or whether they stay employed?

Cheryl Quinones

My position in regards to the role of standardized tests in schools is that they act as a gauge of the child’s level of education, both within the classroom and elsewhere. I believe that placing the burden of blame completely on a teacher for an underperforming child isn’t right, because the full education experience rests with the parents, administration, role models, and teachers involved in the whole system.

Cooperation and collaboration between all of these people, including the child, is tantamount to success. That said, I don’t believe that the results of a standardized test should determine whether a teacher gets paid more or less. However, if there is definitive statistics showing a continuing underperformance of students over an extended length of time, I believe that may warrant an investigation into whether the results have anything to do with the teacher’s performance or not.

Nick Inzunza

The above question seems to be somewhat obsolete or outdated and referring to an educational system that no longer exist. The question seems to be pointing a blaming and threatening finger at our present day classroom teachers.

Standard tests are an important educational tool if kept in its proper context.  For example, they can serve as feedback and help confirm or not confirm proper educational plans, schools goals and accountability, but they are not the golden bullet. Whether positive or not, standardize testing scores are the result of school and district teamwork and not of individual teachers.

In today’s school system, there is no one individual totally responsible for any one student. Students are assessed and educational plans are developed for particular categories and individual needs by various support teams. During the school day, students are typically in and out of the classroom having their individual educational needs met by specialist and out of the influence of their regular assigned classroom teacher. The classroom teacher generally has no choice but to accept the lot of students drawn for the school year. “The good, the bad, and the ugly” per say, are all welcomed. Teachers and public schools take all comers; there is no creaming of students.

Barbara Elliott-Sanders

There is no question that any employee should be held accountable for his/her performance in the work place, but standardized tests should not be the deciding factor for evaluating a teacher's performance in the classroom. If there was such a thing as a "standardized " classroom, then possibly the standardized tests could be used as one benchmark for evaluation.

At any given school, there may be 3-4 classrooms at one grade level–yet the make up of each classroom is different. One may have a preponderance of English Language learners. Another may have anywhere from 8-10 students with special needs on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan). Yet another may have several gifted students.

Every quality teacher works their best to ensure each student is taught the standards set by the state of California in core subjects like math and language arts. In the South Bay Union School District, each student K-8 is given a benchmark test every 6-8 weeks. The test is based on the Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum, which set by the school district. The teachers and principal then use the student scores to plan curriculum in a collaborative manner.

This is a much more equitable and just way of using test scores in a positive way, as opposed to holding teachers accountable based solely on standardized tests for the progress of their students.

Dave Lopez

The idea that a teachers pay or employment can be based on standardized test scores has gained a lot of buzz among people that don't really understand education. There are no "standardized" students. Every student and every class is different. A teacher, teaching the exact same curriculum using the same methodologies, may excel one year and not the next simply because they have a different group of students. A great teacher may sometimes have a class of lower performing students. You simply cannot judge a teacher by the results of their students test scores. There are too many variables involved.

Lincoln Pickard declined to answer, but suggested voters visit lincolnpickard.com 

Have any question you would like to ask the candidates? Share your question ideas in comments.