The \u201creal\u201d NFL officials are back, but that doesn\u2019t mean that all will be well.\u00a0 One of the key areas of contention in the dispute was evaluation of the referees\u2019 work. Sound familiar? It has a certain parallel to the Chicago teachers\u2019 strike in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a society, we love to measure just about anything, whether it lends itself to quantification or not.\u00a0 A clear example would be the yearly rankings of U.S. universities and colleges by the magazine U.S. News & World Report<\/span>.\u00a0 Is Harvard really better than Yale?\u00a0 Is it better than your local community college?<\/span><\/p>\n

It all depends on what your criteria are and to whom you are applying it.\u00a0 For many students, the local community college is a far better fit than Harvard.\u00a0 But for U.S. News & World Report<\/span> to acknowledge this fact would undermine what they are doing in their best-selling issue of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every play in a football game is full of actions that require subjective evaluation by officials, or at least assessment that is tainted with uncertainty.\u00a0 Did that offensive lineman really grab the defensive tackle by the jersey?\u00a0 Did the defensive back hold the wide receiver five or six yards downfield from the line of scrimmage?\u00a0 When the quarterback released the ball, was he throwing a pass or fumbling the ball?<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these are variables subject to interpretation.\u00a0 There will be many occasions when the best of referees will make \u201cdamned if you do; damned if you don\u2019t\u201d rulings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same is true for teachers.\u00a0 However, most officials who \u201crun\u201d schools be it from the federal government or the local school board and administrators are fixated on assessing teachers based on the scores of their students on standardized tests.\u00a0 As Chicago teachers said, the performance of their students is affected by numerous variables other than the quality of their teaching.\u00a0 This includes the socio-economic background of the students, the crime rate where the students live, the nutritional value of the food they eat, the violence in the home and any other number of factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently Rebecca Mieliwocki, America\u2019s most recent \u201cteacher of the year\u201d (that too, a rather subjective designation) <\/span>was interviewed<\/span><\/a> by Ray Suarez on the PBS NewHour.\u00a0 She teaches English to 7^{th<\/sup> graders in Burbank, CA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n}

At the very least, we can say that she is an experienced and well-versed teacher.\u00a0 The video of the interview clearly shows that she cares about students and is highly invested in her work.\u00a0 Consider her words about the value of standardized testing:<\/span><\/p>\n

SUAREZ:<\/strong>\u00a0 If I looked at the results of standardized tests from your students, would I find something measurable in numbers about what you\u2019re doing in the classroom?<\/span><\/p>\n

MIELIWOCKI:<\/strong> Well, you know what, the numbers tell a picture; the numbers tell a story, but just part of the story like the beginning or just the middle or just the end.\u00a0 It definitely does not tell you the whole of what great teachers do with kids.\u00a0 It would be like going to the doctor and having your temperature taken and the temperature telling us everything we need to know about you.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 It gives us one number on one day and it tells you something about your health and wellness at one moment, but it\u2019s not really that useful a piece of information taken in isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch 2012 Teacher of the Year on What Helps Students Succeed<\/a> on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s good that the best of the best NFL referees are back on the job.\u00a0 It\u2019s also good to know that our classroom have teachers as good a Rebecca Mieliwocki.\u00a0 But regardless of how good they are, they\u2019re not perfect.\u00a0 Let\u2019s praise them for what they do well, but also be willing to cut them slack when everything does not go as planned.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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