The public-education system needs accountability

The recent controversy over the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests given by Seattle schools is misplaced [“More teachers — this time at ORCA — boycott MAP exams,” NWTuesday, Jan. 15]. The MAP tests are the only tests given across the district and across grades that provide parents, students and staff with real-time information about learning and progress.

The issue here should not be about the need for these tests — finally, we have a consistent way to look at student learning — but about the appropriateness of this specific test for high school and about accountability for our teachers.

On the former, I believe there is good reason to question whether MAP should be used in high school. The test does not scale sufficiently beyond ninth grade to make it a valuable assessment tool. As for accountability, the district’s new teacher-evaluation system rightfully includes student growth as one factor (not the primary factor) of a teacher’s evaluation.

As a parent of three students in Seattle’s south end schools and an education professional working in this field for more than 15 years, I am once again dismayed that Seattle is so quick to reject something different or something that carries any accountability. We are better than this — our schools and teachers are better than this. And certainly, our children deserve better.

--Carol Rava Treat, Seattle