Teachers Are Right to be Concerned
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The attempt to base all personnel decisions on student test results
Governor Jindal and his state superintendent John White believe that basing all school personnel decisions on student performance as measured by state tests will produce dramatic improvements in student performance. The legislation that was recently passed is based on the incorrect assumption that the quality of teaching is the most important factor in the academic performance of students. In one of its descriptions of the Act 54 evaluation system, the LDOE makes the following assertion:
“Research has shown that teacher effectiveness is the greatest determinant of student outcomes followed closely by principal effectiveness.”
This statement is patently incorrect! It ignores or severely underestimates the influence of socioeconomic factors that can have a dominant impact on the education process. Click here to view the Educators for All analysis of this potentially harmful misinterpretation of research on student performance. In addition, many education
