From Tested Students to Testing Teachers

The superintendent of Michigan Public Schools was on campus to address a group of preservice teachers, doctoral students, and faculty. Students made up the majority of the audience; two classes from Detroit and Grand Rapids tuned in via Skype. The superintendent shared brief anecdotes about creating and advancing educational policies, referring multiple times to the policymaking process as "making sausage." First, he argued that he supported the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and that people who didn't support the CCSS must feel that way because "it sounds kind of like Communism." At three different points, he stated that policies developed at the Capitol would not affect teachers in their everyday lives in the classroom. Finally, he stated that he supported value-added measures for teachers and that "anyone smart" would also support such measures.