Fewer Chicago teachers making the grade
Study shows new evaluation system rates teachers on a tougher curve
Far more Chicago schoolteachers received the worst rating under a new evaluation system intended to measure how educators connect with students, new research shows.
Eight percent of teachers got at least one unsatisfactory rating — defined as doing academic harm to students — under the new system, piloted in 44 Chicago elementary schools. By comparison, just 0.4 percent of teachers in the same schools were deemed subpar when they were evaluated using the traditional checklist one year earlier, according to the report released Tuesday by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.
The report offers a first look at Chicago's efforts to revamp how it measures teacher effectiveness. The findings come amid a national push to reward good teachers, train struggling teachers and remove bad ones from the country's classrooms.
Illinois lawmakers, for instance, recently backed legislation to require that student learning be a significant factor in teacher evaluations.
But classroom observations also play a role when judging a teacher's effectiveness, said Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality.
"A system that relies only on test scores would not be accurate or appropriate," she said.
Chicago's new evaluation system — called the Excellence in Teaching Project — began in 44 elementary schools two years ago and will expand to include some high schools this fall. The system is based on the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching that measures instruction, planning, managing a classroom and other tasks like talking with students' families or keeping up-to-date records.
One early conclusion researchers have made is that the new evaluations consistently flagged weak teachers. Principals and independent observers reached the same conclusions after watching a lesson.
In that, at least, the overhauled evaluation system seems objective, researchers said, addressing a key concern about how it ultimately might factor into decisions about how teachers are promoted or paid.
"It is fair, especially when you're talking about low-level performance," said researcher Sara Ray Stoelinga. "Really, a subgoal
