OHIO — As the school year begins, education advocates said teachers are trapped in an old system that's putting emphasis on test scores and performance, preventing them and their students from moving forward in their learning. 

What You Need To Know

  • Test scores are not directly tied to teacher evaluations, like they used to be with No Child Left Behind

  • No Child Left Behind was a set of laws passed by Congress in 2001 that put emphasis on education "accountability," which in turn brought on increased testing and more state ratings of schools 

  • The No Child Left Behind laws were replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, which rolled back certain requirements and allowed states to come up with their own plans

  • Since there is still an emphasis on test scores and performance, educators said it creates added stress
  • Some education advocates believe what would help students is giving the teachers the ability to choose what assessments are best

Data from the Ohio Department of Education showed over the last few years, kids suffered significantly during the pandemic when it came to learning, leaving many behind in areas like math and reading.

Between students being behind and old systems, Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said it's putting both students and teachers in a bind

“Our system hasn't changed in terms of what they expect from teachers in terms of test scores and outcomes," Cropper said.

Since there’s still a continued emphasis on test scores, Cropper said teachers are trying to figure out how they can help students now learn best.

In Cropper's mind, performance evaluations create added stress, adding she believes that only gives a snapshot of what is really happening in the classroom.

“The evaluations can play into it whether a teacher is retained or not retained, so they could potentially lose their job over an evaluation. It can play into where they're assigned within a district," Cropper said.

She said that can play into a teacher’s morale. The solution in Cropper’s mind "is to really give teachers more voice in the decision-making process and so more autonomy and to how instruction is actually happening in the classroom.”

This, Cropper believes, would give teachers the ability to provide the assessments that are actually needed in their classrooms.