This month's TAKS testing is the first step to unfairly judging teachers

The TAKS test has arrived. In upcoming weeks, teachers will be trying hard to review concepts and clear up misconceptions. Some teachers have tutoring sessions before school or during lunch. Some continue tutoring during their planning periods or after school. Some may do all of these things.

Stress levels, no doubt, are high. After all, nobody wants to be the one responsible for an “unacceptable” rating at his campus. But are these ratings fair? What do these ratings really say about a school, and how does the average parent or concerned citizen interpret them?

I’ve been teaching for 15 years, and not once have I ever worked at a school that got an “exemplary” rating. What does that say about me as a teacher? That I am substandard? That I’m not as good a teacher as the one who teaches at “exemplary” Fill-In-The-Blank Elementary? It absolutely does not. But I have no doubt that this is the way many of Dallas’ public-school-criticizing citizens think.

I’ve always wondered what would happen if they moved the teachers at an “exemplary” school into a school that was rated lower and vice-versa. I suspect that results would pretty much remain the same at both schools.

The public perception does chip away at my morale at times. There are many great, hard-working teachers at my school, and I’m sure it probably bugs them, too. Who doesn’t want to be categorized as “exemplary”?

Some schools have more challenging populations than others. Are there oncologists out there with 100 percent cancer cure rates? No. Does this make them bad doctors?

If Top General Hospital boasts a 90 percent cancer cure rate while Average Joe General Hospital has only a 70 percent cure rate, does that make the doctors at Top General “exemplary” while the doctors at Average Joe are only “acceptable”? Of course it doesn’t. It all comes down to variables like biology and resources.

In the case of the biology variable, we are dealing with human beings here, not inanimate objects. We don’t have total control over what goes on in Johnny’s head, just as doctors don’t have total control over cancer cells. We can offer treatments, but not everyone responds the same. Perhaps Johnny can’t sleep because of late-night partying in the apartment next door. Perhaps Johnny can’t do his homework because he is taking care of his own siblings. Perhaps Johnny is homeless. Perhaps Johnny prefers to act out at school. The list of variables is endless.

In the case of the resources variable, not every school is the same. Some schools have exceptional PTAs and tremendous parental involvement, while others have none. Some schools are neighborhood schools, making it easier for kids to stay after school for tutoring. Other schools have to pay for late buses to take home a select number of after-school tutoring kids at the end of the day. Some schools are overcrowded, while others are not. The list of variables here is endless as well.

Many Dallas teachers work at schools that face many of these challenges every day. We work hard every day, and we try to reach as many students as we can. I have taught math to homeless children, abused children and foster children. I have taught math to refugees from war-torn countries such as Iraq , Burma, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. But how would anybody know that by just looking up my school’s rating?

In spite of these challenges, my colleagues and I are proud of our “exemplary” efforts every year, and we really don’t get any kind of recognition for it. We just get lumped in with the criticism. I guess this just makes us best-kept secrets.