Concerns • 493
teacher performance. In other words, the government says we can measure
a surrogate value (student performance) and somehow divine the quality
of the teaching. Once we know we have a “bad” teacher, we can hold him
or her accountable. We are not sure that teachers were not accountable
before this mishmash of confused testing concepts; furthermore, we have
seen no scientic evidence that student performance is an adequate sur-
rogate for estimating teacher performance. e government website states:
No Child Le Behind is designed to change the culture of America’s schools
by closing the achievement gap, oering more exibility, giving parents
more options, and teaching students based on what works.
Under the act’s accountability prov ...