Throughout his CNN interview, Duncan was asked repeatedly whether the grants would encourage teachers to "teach to the test," or sacrifice worthwhile educational goals in order to focus on test-taking strategy and more testable material. But Duncan dismissed the concern, reasoning that such practices aren't effective and, therefore, won't be rewarded. "It doesn't work," he said more than once, adding that grant money will end up going to dynamic, high-quality educators who truly succeed in helping their students learn.
It's hard to argue with the fact that the language used in the Education Department's press release isn't at least hinting that test scores are part of the metric for evaluating teacher effectiveness when it states that effectiveness needs to be demonstrated "using fair and transparent evaluations based on multiple measures including student growth."
Do you think the incentive program, which a recent report said will not work, could cause more teaching to the test? Or is this the best carrot for getting teachers to expect more from their students?
Photo (cc) via Flickr user ccarlstead.