One Teacher Feels Impact of 'Value-Added' Evaluations
Despite being described as “creative” and “motivating” by her supervisor, fifth-grade teacher Sarah Wysocki found herself out of a job when her students’ test scores didn’t improve as much as required by the District of Columbia Public Schools’ complex formula for evaluating her performance.
As the Washington Post’s Bill Turque reports, Wysocki had even been urged by her school's assistant principal to share her classroom techniques with other teachers. Just a few months later, when her students' test scores missed the mark, Wysocki was fired. Positive classroom evaluations weren’t enough to override the district’s “value-added” formula, which is supposed to quantify the effect Wysocki had on her students’ learning.
Such formulas are not fool-proof, as researchers themselves are quick to warn. Dale Ballou, a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, said he’s concerned that the current evaluation models are
As the Washington Post’s Bill Turque reports, Wysocki had even been urged by her school's assistant principal to share her classroom techniques with other teachers. Just a few months later, when her students' test scores missed the mark, Wysocki was fired. Positive classroom evaluations weren’t enough to override the district’s “value-added” formula, which is supposed to quantify the effect Wysocki had on her students’ learning.
Such formulas are not fool-proof, as researchers themselves are quick to warn. Dale Ballou, a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, said he’s concerned that the current evaluation models are