The title of this blog post would lead one to believe
that I am in support of an evaluation method that utilizes student test scores.
This is definitely not the case. People in favor of these value-added scores will
try to defend their opinion by saying that the ratings are based on a student’s
progress and not just the base score. This begs the question, how can one
compare the concepts learned in a 7th grade math class to those
learned in an 8th grade math class when the material is much more
challenging? A team of fifth grade teachers in New York is currently
experiencing the lack of truth behind their evaluation ratings in which 40% was determined
by student standardized test scores.
The
Principal at Public School 146 describes her fifth grade team as a group of
hard-working, talented teachers that are dedicated to student achievement
(staying until 7 pm on many Friday evenings). From winning a Fulbright
scholarship to working as an Archaeologist in France, this team of teachers has
a variety of backgrounds that would be impressive for college professors. After
pushing 96% of their fifth graders to proficiency in English and 89% for math,
one would think that these teachers would have some of the highest ratings in
the state. This is not the case. This team of teachers had value-added scores that ranged
from 1 to 11, all out of 100. One of the reasons for these low ratings is the
fact that 97% of the students were proficient in math as fourth graders. After
briefly reading about these teachers, do you agree with their low ratings?
Some
states have already adopted the use of value-added scores for teacher
evaluations. In many cases, strong teachers are getting mediocre evaluations
and some who get the highest are just ending up in a good situation. It is
imperative that we fight this measure and work to find a better way to evaluate
teachers.
Click here to read the full article.
No comments:
Post a Comment