Third graders will now officially assess NYC teachers
There are several questionable elements to the new teacher evaluation system just imposed on New York City schools by state education Commissioner John King, but the one that jumps out for sheer nitwittedness is this: Students starting in third grade will now have a say in the official assessment of their teachers.Yes, what third- (and fourth and fifth and sixth etc.) graders think about their teachers will actually matter in a teacher’s evaluation, 5 percent worth. The rest of the evaluation will be based on student standardized test scores — a method of assessing teachers that psychometricians say is invalid — and by observations of teachers, some of them by videotape, a practice that can be useful in helping teachers see how they are doing but, for a number of reasons, (which you can see here) shouldn’t be mixed with evaluation. (See chart below for percentages of evaluation factors).
All in all, King’s evaluation system leaves an enormous amount to be desired — if you are interested in a teacher evaluation system with elements that are actually known to be effective.
There is a big debate about the use of student surveys in teacher evaluation even as a number of districts and states in recent years have added them. Student feedback can certainly be valuable and should be solicited, but the notion that the opinion of young