Teacher test questioned
SPOKANE (AP)
— A test that grades
potential teachers
on their patience
and caring rather
than traditional
teaching metnoos may oe oroppxi ov um
Spokane School District. an official said
The district probably will quit using
the 32-question EMPATHY' — Empha
sizing More Personalized Attitudes
Toward Helping Youth — test because
too many applicants know the questions,
assistant superintendent Kick Chisholm
said
The questions and some of the answers
are available through a database of edu
cational research available at local
libraries.
More than half of the district's 1.800
teachers have been hired since
based in part on how they did on the test
But supporters of traditional teaching
methods criticize the test, which deducts
points for answers that indicate too
much discipline, too little desire to be
liked by students or a lack of organiza
tion.
“We're doing warm and fuzzy to the
exclusion of expectations, au ountubilitv
and learning to respect the academic
world." said one tea< her. who asked not
to he identified.
A sample question: "What are the most
important ways a teacher can help his
her pupils?"
The preferred answer is: “To under
stand. listen, trust, communicate with
pupils." or "Help pupils build a positive
self-image.”
Applicants are given one point lor
each response that is similar to the pre
ferred answer.
Dropping the test from hiring inter
views would please the Spokane Educa
tion Association, the union representing
most of the district's teachers.
The test — which makes up 31 percent
of the "composite rating” for applicants
(hat is sent to prim ip.ils looking lo fill a
position — mav In' biased against men.
minorities and exponent mi teat hers,
union president |i>rr\ Hopkins said
Wednesday
Hut Gloria Morris, an elementary
school prim ipal who is him k, disputed
the suggestion that the test puts ininori
ties at a disadvantage
"It's nothing one has to studs for." she
said of the test "It gets .it natural r har.it
(eristics of an individual, the humane
qualities so necessary for people to hove
if they work with children "
Minority applicants at tuallv tend to
store a half-point higher than whites,
Chisholm said
Middle st hool teacher Mary l-angford.
hired before the tlislru t began using the
CM PA nn test, said she probably would
not have scored well because her teach
ing style is more businesslike
"1 feel it's a job for students to i time
to si hool," l-angford said "I have some
empathy for them, bill when you come to
work, nobody is going to ask how you
how you’re feeling When you come to
work, you have to be prepared
The CMPATflV interview, developed
ill the 1070s bv the Omaha. Neb , puiilii
schools, reflects the theory that the Itest
teat hers are those who are open, patient
and t aring and want students to like
them
hrnest Hover, president of the t arnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of
Touching and a national educator ol the
Year in 10*10, agreed that warm people
make good teachers, but does not sup
port selei ting teachers based on I.Ml'A
THY inters iews
A teat her w ith a traditional approat h
could be more elfei live than a progres
sive, student-centered teacher who is
insecure and uncertain, Boyer said
The notion of right and wrong answers
to open-ended questions also drew his
scorn
Grant President
driven by memories
PORTLAND (AI>) Vu Pham had
h«wn ill ('.rani High School for |usl two
months when ho was oloctod student
body president.
Students who voted for him after
hearing his electrifying speech proha
bly didn't know about his difficult past
‘Tm not here to make you feel like
you belong to Grant High School." he
shouted to them "I'm here to make you
feel like Grant High School belongs to
you."
Vu urged the students to toko respon
sibility for improving Grant, a large
urban school that some say gets more
attention for its flows than its virtues
"You am the power," Vu told them
"He blew everyone away." junior
fatten Scott remembers "lie was the
only one there."
Vu is driven by a powerful force
his memories. Ho preaches individual
responsibility because it allowed him
to survive running from Communist
soldiers in his native Vietnam, escap
mg at sea on a tiny bout, establishing
himself at one high si hool only to be
removed from office, and. worst of all.
witnessing his mother's murder
Vu nimenibers Vietnam in snapshots
He was tiorn m 1075 just outside Saigon,
siy months after the North Vietnamese
army invaded.
Vu remembers fleeing with his moth
erund his half-uncle when he was five
He says they were pursued ill the wav
to the beach. The small boat drifted for
almost i week Miraculously, a German
ship found them and took everyone
aboard
The three of them settled in Heaver
ton.
About n year Intor, Vu's mother,
Uihong Nguyen Hong to bur family—
began Mating a man named Kim Van I-e
Hit moved in with thorn
But during a trip to California with
Vu, Hong foil in love with a different
man.
On |une T>. lMHit. about 7 p m., a
friend dropp'd seven-year-old Vu off at
their apartment with his mother
They wore just outside the door
when I.e bolted out of the apartment,
holding a meat cleaver in his hands.
"All I remember was watching it
ha ppm and jumping up and down l i Kt
a little baby." Vu said "I i nuldn't do
anything."
Hong collapsed oil the t ement walk
wav She died hours Inter at a hospital.
I.e was convicted of first degree
manslaughter and was paroled after
less than five years in prison Vu
doesn't know where I.e is now
Vu now lives with his half uncle,
l ain Nguyen, who survived a prisoner
of war camp to come to America.
When they moved to Portland his
sophomore year. Vu learned to temper
his strong views and impatience. He
was elected junior ( lass president at
Madison High Si liool, hut he had sev -
oral run-ins with the administration
and was impeached
Alter his junior year, he transferred
to Grant and dm ided to give student
government another trv
So far. he's been a big sm ( ess
Vu is one of the best tilings that
happened to Grant High S< bool in a
long time," said senior Jay Prank "He
brings a lot of energy to everything he
does "
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