Education

Student tests no threat here, can adapt state standards

JULIE LANE PHOTO | Superintendent Michael Hynes and Academic Administrator Jennifer Rylott are able to make testing work for Shelter Island by adapting it to the small district’s needs, using faculty observations as the major component of judging teachers’ competency.

Since the federal No Child Left Behind program was enacted in 2001, it’s been derisively referred to in some quarters as “No Child Left Untested.”

And when New York State rolled out its own testing problems, parents, teachers and administrators have complained about “teaching to the test” instead of educating students.

But instead of lobbying for repeal as is happening among some educators, Shelter Island School Superintendent Michael Hynes is trying to adapt the system to make it work effectively in the district.

“I’m all for accountability” for students, teachers and administrators, Dr. Hynes said, explaining he’s not going “to sit here and bellyache over testing.” But he does share the attitude of some other superintendents who are not happy with how the state rolled out the program.

What bothers him is there has been too little effort expended to teach the faculty about the tests. “They need time to understand new standards” the state implements, he said.

“Everything is a deficit model,” Dr. Hynes said about the structure of the testing as it operates in larger districts.

Instead of being linked to what students need to learn, the test results can be punitive to teachers and, indeed, the entire district, if students fail to perform well on tests.

Test results that are a part of each teacher’s appraisal in a larger district could result in dismissals instead of constructive criticism that can improve skills, Dr. Hynes explained. Because Shelter Island is so small, allowing ample time for observations of teachers in their classrooms, more attention can be given to helping to improve teachers’ abilities and, therefore, student performance.

If all schools could design their own programs to comply with accountability standards, testing wouldn’t have such a negative connotation, he said. That’s easier to achieve in a small district like Shelter Island than it would be in a large district, he said.

Instead of test results looming as a threat to individual teachers and, ultimately, the administration, Dr. Hynes has been able to work with the faculty to help them to see the tests as only one element in judging competency, not a threat to their jobs.

Test scores are only a small part of assessing individual teachers, Dr. Hynes said. What’s really critical is that 60 percent of a teacher’s score is based on observation. He and Academic Administrator Jennifer Rylott spend time in classrooms not to intimidate teachers, but to work with them in identifying ways in which they can be more effective.

He pointed to science teacher Dan Williams who inspires his students to share his love of experimentation by taking them on field trips, running the school’s Science Club and operating independent study programs for students who want to conduct experiments, learning as much or more from those that don’t work as from those that do.
“When I’m in his classroom, I feel like a student,” Dr. Hynes said.

Because Shelter Island teachers and administrators know their students so well, they can immediately identify when a test result isn’t reflecting their expectations and will want to know what went wrong — again, not something easily achieved in very large districts.