Measuring teachers effectives: Teacher actions that cannot be measured

Bullying has been a topic of conversation not just in Baltimore City Public Schools, but also across the nation. This upcoming Wednesday, February 28^th CNN will release a powerful documentary called, “The Bully Effect.” This documentary captures the story of three families who were callously effected by their son or daughter being bullied. “The Bully Effect” aims to expose the tremendously hurtful and sometimes deadly actions some students inflict on other students on their way to and from school. Additionally, the documentary aims to reveal how individuals are making difference in their communities and all throughout the country are standing up against bullying.

The conversation of bullying is relevant to our upcoming classroom discussion on value-added (VA) scores which are used to only measure academic teacher effectiveness in some states. These scores are based on the end-of-year test scores of a teacher’s students. A teacher whose students’ scores exceed expectation, get a high VA score. A teacher whose students achieve below expectations receive allow score. In opposition, some educators argue that the VA-based evaluations unfairly reward or penalize teachers based on the students they teach rather than on their true impact which at times cannot be measured-student change in mindset, student development of confidence, and in this example helping a student through a mental and physical challenge (bullying).

Placing this type of stress or emphasis on teachers, limits and discourages a teacher to be actively involved with all the other components that develop a whole child – sports, character building, and in class and after school safety. Teachers are being placed under strict scrutiny; we are pressured day in and out to deal with the multiple expectations placed upon us by the district. These expectations include both high test scores outcomes and certification requirements. Both of which research has shown to have very little impact on a student’s development. If we are expected to produce great citizens for our society, teachers cannot be suffocated with the pressures of producing a specific test score. We must be provided with the time and resources to address the development of the whole child, which includes the rising issue of bullying.

I agree that schools should be held accountable to student achievement, but how can a school focus solely on achievement, when their students are combating violence in and outside of schools in multiple ways? How can a teacher direct all of his or her attention to only producing academic gains, if there are so many complexities with in an urban school? The question at hand, what's at stake when you have teacher striving to be effective in only one area in order to earn that high VA score? Is it not significant for a teacher to help students cope or escape bullying or other incidents of malice and violence? Should these teacher actions not be factored in when evaluating their effectiveness to be a teacher in an urban setting?

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/12/ac360-special-documentary-the-bully-effect/