Evaluating Teachers Using Student Test Scores: Value-added Measures (Part 1)
In most organizations, supervisors measure and evaluate employees’ performance. Consequences, both positive and negative, flow from the judgments they make. Not in public schools where supervisors have commonly judged over 95 percent of all teachers “satisfactory.” Such percentages clearly do not distinguish between effective and ineffective teaching. The reform-driven agenda for the past decade that included testing, accountability, expanding parental choice through charter schools, and establishing a Common Core curriculum across the nation now includes in its to-do list distinguishing between good and poor teaching.[i]
The current generation of reform-driven policymakers, donors, and educational entrepreneurs are determined to sort out “good” from mediocre and poor teaching if for no other reason than identifying those high-performers who have had sustained effects on student learning and reward them with recognition, bonuses, and high salaries. They are equally determined to rid the teacher corps of persistently ineffective teachers.[ii]
The current generation of reform-driven policymakers, donors, and educational entrepreneurs are determined to sort out “good” from mediocre and poor teaching if for no other reason than identifying those high-performers who have had sustained effects on student learning and reward them with recognition, bonuses, and high salaries. They are equally determined to rid the teacher corps of persistently ineffective teachers.[ii]