Northeast News
November 5, 2014

Dear Editor,

Think back upon your school days and your favorite teachers. What made those teachers so special to you? I’m willing to bet it wasn’t because those teachers helped you do well on a state-mandated standardized test. Am I right? The fact is that there are many types of teachers: funny, nurturing, tremendous instructors, and role models to name a few. We are fortunate that every teacher is unique. How else could we hope to meet the diverse needs of each unique student? There are children and young adults who find sanctuary at school with caring teachers while away from their lives outside. Some students stay in school and make it to graduation because of the relationship with a special teacher. There are teachers who teach us more about life than they do about algebra or grammar. And of course, there are those teachers who are able to make things like electrical currents seem interesting to students like me.

The question is – which of these teachers is the most valuable? Think again on the teachers you loved the most. Would you have wanted those teachers to be paid based on your test scores? There are teachers who meet a great variety of student needs that cannot be measured by standardized test results. There is a teacher in a classroom today who is saving a life-literally. How do you test that?

School reformers must stop trying to standardize teachers. Proposed Amendment 3 would do just that.

Shelley Hoffman

Retired Teacher

St. Peters, MO