NJ Teacher Evaluation: SOMEONE'S Got To Lose!
Tim Matheney is the current Director of the Office of Evaluation at the New Jersey Department of Education. He is touring around the state these days, trying to sell the new, top-down, test-based teacher evaluation system,AchieveNJ. I've blogged extensively about my problems with this system, but let's give Matheney a chance to respond to its critics:
Pamela Keuett, a Neptune Township middle school science teacher, voiced concern over whether the new rating system will create competition as opposed to collaboration between educators.Matheney said the new paradigm of measuring students’ progress will be weighed against other students from across the state that test within the same percentile, thereby creating a more collaborative environment.“An individual student is compared to his or her academic peers in terms of how much growth they make over the