TEACHER EVALUATIONS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
How much of a teacher’s evaluation should be based on the academic performance of their students ? This is currently a hot debate among teachers, administrators, government officials and education reformers.
Next year Chicago Public schools will start a new teacher evaluation process. How well students perform academically would count as one-quarter of a teacher’s evaluation. After two years , the student growth component of the evaluations would jump to a minimum of 30 percent.
Several surveys have shown that most teachers strongly oppose tying student achievement to their own performance. Many teachers dislike the idea of being measured against factors that they cannot control, like when a student’s home life affects academic performance.
What I would like to see is an evaluation process that acknowledges everything that a teacher does for