The law of unintended consequences keeps revisiting education. It obviously didn’t stop with FCAT “accountability” in all its pedagogical mutations. Over-testing, for example, has become a counter-productive, logistically-disruptive given, even if Jeb Bush doesn’t appreciate the legacy smear.
Now there’s the “Best and Brightest Scholarship,” approved earlier this year by the Florida Legislature when it wasn’t checking out early and devolving in embarrassment over Medicaid expansion and the budget.
“B&B” is a well-intentioned effort to help recruit the best teachers possible. It’s a formidable challenge. To that end, incentives were proposed to attract top high school students into teaching. SAT and ACT scores would be the criteria. Top-of-the-line scores would be rewarded with a bonus: $10,000.
Focusing on SATs and ACTs is problematic enough because it has nothing to do with values, communication skills and motivational mindsets. But then there’s this: What of incumbent, proven-effective teachers? The ones you want to hold on to and reward?
Well, the SAT and ACT criteria can apply to them too. They can cite their old scores or, if they didn’t take it back in the day, simply take it now. You read that right–although it’s manifestly wrong-headed.
No surprise that many teachers find the scenario preposterous, insulting and, most of all, irrelevant to what they do–and what they have done.
Sumter County Superintendent Richard Shirley summed it up best. “It amazes me that some in the Florida Legislature think that a (several) decades-old SAT/ACT test taken by a (then) high school junior or senior has any kind of significant impact on their instructional effectiveness as a current classroom teacher in 2015,” noted Shirley.
Actually, it’s amazing that anything coming out of the Florida legislature can still amaze.