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It seems that every politician throwing his hat into the ring for public office sets his sites on the education system to become the "education politician du-jour," calling for teacher accountability. The idea of holding teachers accountable for the low test scores of their students lacks validity because there are other variables that interfere with test outcome.

What amazes me is not that there are problems with test scores, but that teachers are doing the outstanding job they are doing considering the constraints placed upon them. At one point in my career I ran a small pre-employment testing business for local industry. My business was an after hours operation staffed by school teachers who needed extra income. We administered "cattle calls" for 500 or so candidates, tested them, reported the scores to industry and ten of the most worthy were hired. The frustrating thing was this industry kept hiring my employees away from me. When I inquired as to why, the company HR representative responded with, "We love to hire teachers because they are such hard workers. They are accustomed to doing so much with so little, they can do almost anything with nothing." In general, teachers do the best they can to assure student success. There is more involved than teacher skill.

Holding teachers accountable for their students low test scores is similar to holding parents accountable when their adult children falter in life. Even when good parents do the very best job possible, sometimes other variables take children in the wrong direction. More than one child from a good home with good parents has failed at life. Similarly, more than one child from an extremely bad home situation has risen above the level of his parenting to excel in life. Certainly parents have responsibility in raising their children, but parenting, like teaching, is not an all inclusive preparation for the tests of life. There are too many variables in the formula to draw a straight line conclusion from teacher to test scores.

It is rare to find a business where there is no control of the product entering the production line, no control of the product along the production line, yet every item on the conveyer belt passes inspection for market. The educational climate in a school is a product of the culture that walks through the school door. Teachers cannot overcome all the ills of society that interfere with student success in the few hours a day they have their students. Assuming we say the schools have

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