Survey Responses: Question 1: Should NECAP and other test results determine graduation or determine if a teacher should be rehired?

These are questions taken directly from the survey I created and passed around to teachers from elementary to higher education.  Each bullet is a separate person's answer, and some include quotes with permission from the teacher.  All others are anonymous.

Note:  The levels described below are labels for ability level with 1 being the lowest and 4 being honors/ the highest.

1.)  Should NECAP and other test results determine graduation or determine if a teacher should be rehired?

• Test scores alone should not determine graduation or teacher rehiring.
• One test should not determine graduation ability.   Attendance would need to be considered to evaluate teaching success.  Students not attending school negatively impact a teacher's data.  -- Jeff Miller
• Not for graduation, not for rehire either!
• I don't think they should determine graduation but they should account for something so that students try on the test.
• I think students should have to pass some kind of a test in order to graduate but I don't like the NECAP.  I'm not sure about test results determining a teacher's rehire status.
• If standardized testing is going to be valuable in low socioeconomic areas, it has to be more valuable to students.  Also, they should not be used in determining teachers' employment status.  -- Justin Gorham
• No, students' test results do not count for any part of their grade; therefore, they can choose to not take the test seriously.  Also, to allow test results to determine if a teacher should be rehired would not be fair to the teachers.  --  Terry Villemure
• Graduation -- yes.  Teacher evaluation -- no.
• They could be used as a small piece of determining either graduation or rehiring but certainly not the sole determinate.  Further, the student has more control over their results than the teacher.  Most teachers do not get to select their students.
• NECAP (or similar) tests should be considered as a part of a graduation requirement (but not necessarily the results -- students should be required to take them).  Such tests (and their results) should never be considered when determining to rehire a teacher -- a teacher cannot control how a student does on a test nor whether a student will take it seriously or not. 
• NECAP tests have had no bearing on students' graduation records.  They should, therefore have no bearing on whether a teacher is rehired.  The tests would have more meaning if they did affect student grades or graduation. 
• No.  I don't think that one test should determine something as important as graduation or the fate of someone's job.  This would lead to people teaching to the test and spending way too much time prepping for one test.  -- Angela Balch 
• Graduation --  yes.  It would give them motivation to take them seriously.  Rehired --  no. 
• I do see where there needs to be standards, yet I feel many of these tests are flawed.  What constitutes a meaningful, viable test?  I fear also if if teachers are evaluated on results -- aren't we all going to scramble to only teach at the higher levels?  All of my L3 and L4 students get proficient, but virtually none of the L1. 
• No, not solely. 
• No. -- Leslie Blanding 
• No.  However standardized test results should be part of a student's records that colleges etc., see.  --  Cornelia Reisman
• For graduation -> I agree that competency should be demonstrated in each course through some sort of end assessment.  However, NECAP tests' questionable validity leads me to disagree with its use as a high-stakes assessment.  Perhaps other tests like MCAS would be more appropriate.  -> Teachers should not be rehired or evaluated based on students' test performances because students' choices to study, persevere, and work hard are their choices alone.  No other person can force them to do well.  Therefore, teachers cannot be held responsible for their performances.  However, teachers should be held accountable for their own choices and job performances as measured by frequent observations from administrators, the quality of their curriculum development work, classroom instructional practices, content mastery, and professional demeanor.