What kills me is the educational philosophy of the people behind these screening devices like TeacherFit and the one created by Gallup called Teacher Insight. They actually think teachers are "born" not "made," and that answers on a insulting "test" created along the lines of what retail clerks have to take are any indication of ability. They aren't. In fact, the goal of the test taker is not to give the system his or her true attitude toward teaching but merely to "game" the test in order to make the final cut in the job seeking process.
Chicago's school district got into trouble over their TeacherFit questionnaire last year because there were some obvious anti-union questions.
The district later backed down.
The kicker is teacher applicants cannot see the results of the tests.
Caref noted that even with years of teaching and a Ph. D in math education, she “had no idea what the right answers were” on many of the questions. Like the worst multiple choice standardized tests that students are often subjected too, the answers depend on context and can’t be summed up to multiple choices, she noted. For example, the choices offered for a question about how to deal with problem students who are transferred into the class include asking the principal for help, transferring them to another class or dealing with them but refusing to take transfers in the future. Caref said that in the real world, it would depend on the principal, the resources of other teachers and the specifics of the students’ issues.
In a scenario like that one, it is obvious a principal would be trying to get rid of this teacher by trying to overload him or her with troublesome students. A teacher would correctly file a grievance in this circumstance.
However, there is no space on these questionnaires to explain the obvious.
I notice a lot of districts in Texas use the Gallup version. All they do is encourage teachers to lie about their real attitudes.
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