The Man Who's Holding Me Down...

I know... two blogs in one day is a little intense for me, but with finals upon us at school, the man has begun to hold me down... again.  NOW, let's clarify, I am NOT referring to my principal.  He is the most supportive principal ever.  No... I am talking about the district administration... and I usually have a tendency to direct my frustrations at the superintendent.  So... here's the deal.  My district has decided to start paying teachers' salaries based on student performance.  There is a very intricate system to how the student data is used, looking at growth, stance compared to other students in the same grade, etc.  It's beautiful on paper, but terrible in real life.  How exactly does district expect to hold me responsible for bad parenting? Terrible home-lives?  Lack of motivation on the student's part?  I can teach the most amazing things until I'm blue in the face, and sometimes students just refuse to learn.  What exactly am I suppose to do about that?
In any case, the most recent display of "the man" interfering in my life comes in the form of district assessments.  We've had district assessments before in Social Studies and usually I don't care about them.  There are a variety of reasons for my lack of care.
1.  The tests had only been used to demonstrate, which areas students need more help in.
2.  They NEVER had to count toward students' grades OR my salary
3.  I HATE the questions!!  The entire curriculum (and thus questions) are based SOLELY on the textbook!  Any half decent teacher knows that the textbook is not always the source of good lesson plans.  I always use supplemental materials and I always teach toward the state standards.  I almost never use the textbook.  It's not student-friendly and I personally think they don't always teach the BIG picture questions.  After high school, How many people really discuss the numerous committees in the House of Representatives?  How many people ACTUALLY discuss the impact of the de Medici family on the Renaissance??  Not that these things aren't important if you're going to delve deeper into the subject, but if you're never going to study history again, what the heck?
Well... this trimester, I am REQUIRED to have the students take the district final as their final exam!  It counts towards their final grades AND it counts towards my salary.  I was reviewing the Government test, and although I'm not legally allowed to repeat any of the questions on the test, I will say that half the test is made up of the most irrelevant questions!!  I taught this kids about how the government affects them!  What Supreme Court cases have molded the education system and impact what they can and cannot do in society.  They learned about the different views of political parties and how the government was even conceived and created.  Were any of these things on the test?  No!  It is hard enough to convince my students that our government is something they should be involved in (even if it's just voting for the president) but when the district test doesn't demonstrate these things as important, why will they think they should be involved? 
To make matters worse, Government is a mandated class for graduation, and it is not easy.  Therefore I have MANY students sweating whether or not they will be able to graduate in 5 days because they're afraid they're going to fail this test!  Today I had to reassure them that I am only going to count the questions we talked about... and that is my personal rebellion against the system.
There is a small ray of hope.  Starting after next week, I will be able to participate in helping to create a question bank for the future district tests.  At least I can hope that will use some of my questions and students in the future will have far less stress... and I will have far less irritation at the man holding me (and my students) down...