Bill Gates’ $5 Billion Plan: Let’s Put a Camera in Every Classroom
The hope is to evaluate teachers more effectively, and provide them with useful feedback.
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The way public school teachers are evaluated is complicated—and highly controversial among educators.
In fact, two out of three teachers feel that the methods don't accurately capture what they do in their classrooms, according to a January report by the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Tying teacher performance to test scores is the main factor that has teachers up in arms. It was one of the main reasons teachers went on strike last year in Chicago and why educators in Seattle boycotted the MAP testearlier this year.
Instead of focusing so much attention on test scores, philanthropist Bill Gates has another idea.
How about spending $5 billion to put a video camera in every classroom in America?
Anya Kamenetz of Fast Company reports that in a TED Talks Educationspecial airing on May 7 on PBS, we can expect to hear more about Gates' plan. Kamenetz writes that Gates "wants the country to spend $5 billion for every teacher in every classroom in every district to be filmed in action so they can be evaluated and, maybe, improve."
The philanthropist has dedicated resources in the last few years to identifying and developing effective teaching. His foundation funded the $45 million MET project designed to determine how to best identify and promote great teaching. They enlisted the help of 3,000 teachers and many experts