Erika Peek, a teacher from Summitt Elementary School, speaks at Bloomington High School North Wednesday as part of a panel discussion on K-12 education. Mary Keck | Herald-Times
Panelists railed against standardized testing, charter schools, vouchers and the pressure they place on public schools and teachers after a viewing of the documentary “Rise Above the Mark” on Wednesday. They told the crowd of about 150 people who came to Bloomington High School North to see the film that the solution was to hold legislators accountable.
The panelists included Rocky Killion, producer of “Rise Above the Mark” and superintendent of West Lafayette Community School Corp., along with Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the Indiana University School of Education. They were joined by Edward Eiler, member of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education; Erika Peek, a teacher from Summit Elementary, and Judy DeMuth, superintendent of Monroe County Community School Corp.
Over and over, the speakers stated that using standardized tests to evaluate schools and teachers isn’t appropriate. In Indiana, schools are required to give tests such as ISTEP, and they are used to determine school A-F grades and are part of the evaluation process for teachers.
“They were never invented to close schools and evaluate teachers,” Killion said. “They were not developed for that purpose and should be used for diagnostic purposes only, if at all.”
Gonzalez and DeMuth agreed.
“I’ve always found great teachers wanting greater. They’ve never been opposed to upping the ante, raising the bar or making sure there’s rigor in their classroom,” DeMuth said. “To actually label schools and label teachers, I don’t think that’s the right direction.”
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