NC State Senator once again proves he is the number one enemy of public education in North Carolina. In a speech made before Best NC, he had this to say(Check out this post.):
“Research shows that teacher assistants don’t have a meaninfgul impact on students’ academic outcomes…but here in North Carolina this year we will spend almost $400 million dollars on teacher assistants next year. I equate it to an office supply business that chooses to continue to invest in manual typewriters."
Berger clearly equates the main purpose of schools are to obtain high test scores, and anything that does not serve that purpose is useless. This comes from an individual who apparently has no clue how schools operate, and probably hasn’t set foot in a classroom since he walked through the doors of his one-room school-house sitting in the middle of the Sandhills of North Carolina.
But, why should we blame him entirely? Public education should blame itself. When “student outcomes” and “teaching inputs” become the language of instruction, then it is no wonder that policitians like Berger use our own research, and language, in his quest to end public education in North Carolina. When every decision in a school is made in the service of “getting those test scores up,” it’s not a big leap to using test scores to justify every single expenditure.
Educators are as guilty as Berger if we let his nonsensical blather about standardized testing continue unchallenged. Educators also need to challenge Senator Berger’s nonsense too rather than trying to be “politically correct” and connect with him.
If you want to hear more of Berger’s nonsensical rhetoric check out his speech before the educational “reform” organization BEST NC (Business for Educational Success and Transformation) here.
