Frustration with standardized tests often goes like this: What about the people — legislators, bureaucrats, educators — who make kids do them? Why don’t we force those adults to take the tests, too? Let’s see how they like it.
That’s been wishful thinking — until now. The co-founders of a successful charter school network in Texas told me they are, astonishingly, requiring applicants for teaching spots to take the same anxiety-provoking exams they require of students.
The first time I heard this from Tom Torkelson, co-founder of IDEA Public Schools, I expressed disbelief. Say that again? Policymakers have long considered it wrong and insulting to subject even new teachers to these tests. Experts assure me this is the first time such a requirement has been imposed on U.S. educators.
It is an explosive event, sure to be denounced. But Torkelson and IDEA co-founder JoAnn Gama — former teachers themselves — see it as simple logic. Read the article
