Jersey Jazzman: NJ Teacher Evaluation: Based On a Mistruth

Jersey Jazzman: NJ Teacher Evaluation: Based On a Mistruth:

NJ Teacher Evaluation: Based On a Mistruth

by Duke

The new proposals for changes in teacher evaluation in New Jersey - code name: Operation Hindenberg - have been made public by Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. And you know what's really amazing?

The first sentence in Cerf's proposal - the very first sentence - is a mistruth, slickly packaged to give the NJDOE plausible deniability for misleading the public about the need for a revision in teacher evaluations.

Here it is:

In schools, teachers and leaders have the greatest influence on student learning.

Let me start by turning to the always excellent Matt DiCarlo at Shanker Blog:

Specific wordings vary, but if you follow education even casually, you hear some version of this argument with incredible frequency. In fact, most Americans are hearing it – I’d be surprised if many days pass when some approximation of it isn’t made in a newspaper, magazine, or high-traffic blog. It is the shorthand justification – the talking point, if you will – for the current efforts to base teachers’ hiring, firing, evaluation, and compensation on students’ test scores and other