Stan Bergkamp: Teachers need support and encouragement

As president of the Maize Physics Institute, I would like to address arguments put forth by Dave Trabert, president of the Kansas Policy Institute, and many members in the Legislature regarding a perceived lack of efficiency in the public schools.

As a teacher with 25 years of experience, I have received recognition at the local, state and national levels for my science teaching. I have always been a Republican. I am not a member of the teachers union. In addition to teaching, I run my own agribusiness, so I understand the concerns of the business community.

Topeka’s quest to demoralize educators continues with the recent call to remove Kansas from Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards and to establish standards and assessments that are specific to our state. Ironically, one of the goals of these programs is to increase efficiency so that each state does not have to waste time developing its own standards and assessments. The current estimated cost to rewrite the standards is $9 million.

Is there some bad curriculum out there about how to teach the standards? Yes. However, there are more efficient ways to address bad curriculum than spending $9 million to establish new standards.

To those who desire new standards: How will the new standards compare to the ones already approved and supported by educators across the country?

As an educator, I find it embarrassing that the United States – which has led the world in so many great achievements in exploration and science – still cannot agree on a process to teach a student how to add numbers.

Rather than producing the same inefficient results by following the same inefficient processes, let Kansas try something different. Instead of spending more trying to keep the inefficient engine of standardized testing running, let’s invest in meaningful, wholesale change.

It is the passion, dedication and knowledge of the teacher that will determine the results – not a curriculum guide or hours analyzing test scores. A teacher doesn’t need a standardized test to tell her that Timmy can’t read. Let’s try a new path of giving teachers and administrators the resources they need and the opportunity to work with students where they can address their individual needs.

Just once, I want to proudly say that I teach in Kansas, knowing that the Legislature will enact policies to encourage and support public education.

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Stan Bergkamp: Teachers need support and encouragement."