Research shows that when students only motivation is to do well on tests, they begin to lose their interest in learning and their desire to take on new challenges. Assigning a school a letter grade is a simplistic way of evaluating a school and its faculty. The Governor s method of grading schools does not take into account how much progress each individual child makes. As professionals we cannot endorse a program which treats our colleagues in such an unjust manner. Finally, we do not support the use of vouchers, and we believe the grading of schools is a ploy of the Governor s voucher program.
Students can only qualify for vouchers if their school is graded as failing.
Therefore, by unfairly portraying our schools and our teachers as failing to educate, the Governor can justify his voucher program. We believe that if we accept our bonuses we would be endorsing the grading of schools, and providing fuel to promote the voucher program.