Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Daily Kos: Linda Darling-Hammond takes apart Value-added evaluation of teachers

Daily Kos: Linda Darling-Hammond takes apart Value-added evaluation of teachers:

Linda Darling-Hammond takes apart Value-added evaluation of teachers

as she has done many times before. The occasion this time is the NY Post making a bit issue of the supposedly worst teacher in the city. Linda has written on this subject, either by herself, or in conjunction with other experts on education, several times in the past few years.

Linda, who is a personal friend and professional colleague, has an important new piece on the subject of value-added methodology in Education Week, the most important single publication in the field of education, which you can - and should - read here.

Linda Darling-Hammond acknowledges that she - like many others, originally had high hopes for the use of value added evaluations of teachers. But now it is clear to her, as it is to many have examined it closely, that it does



I've always wanted to make a difference

in what I did with my life.

Before i became a teacher I chose to work in local government rather than the private sector for that reason

I became a public school teacher to make a difference

Now I wrestle with what I will do after this school year:

.. should I continue in my current classroom?

.. should I retired from where I am and teach elsewhere?

.. should I leave the classroom and try to serve in education elsewhere?

.. should I work elsewhere in politics or in government?

.. should I move to the non-profit sector?

I honestly do not know. One possible door has closed, but I do not view that as limiting, merely that it means I can turn with greater focus to other possibilities.

I have tried in my writing to make a difference: before there was a pundit watch or he had won a Pulitzer, I tried


It all depends on the words you use

as to whether you will rise to the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland security.

Picked this up as a result of a tweet from this website

take a look below the fold: