New analysis argues that better teachers are flocking to better schools
A new analysis of New York City school data shows that teachers who scored low in the city’s evaluation system are concentrated in struggling schools that tend to serve poor and minority students, while teachers with strong ratings are most likely to be found in schools where students test well and tend to be white and Asian.
The analysis, by Families for Excellent Schools, an advocacy group that has been campaigning to expand public charter schools, shows a strong correlation between teacher quality — as measured by the city’s system — and how students perform on standardized tests.
“The data shows just how tightly linked student achievement is to teacher quality, and helps lay bare the fault lines of educational inequality in New York City’s schools: race and poverty are the most critical factors for whether you have good teachers in the classroom,” said Khan Shoieb, a spokesman for Families for Excellent Schools.
The organization looked at 2013-2014 ratings for 20,167 public school teachers at 553 elementary and middle schools in New York City, about one-third of the public school system.
The group found that as teacher quality, as defined by the city’s ratings system, increases, students are more proficient in English and math and are less likely to be poor, black and Hispanic. There were outliers – examples of highly rated teachers working in schools where students demonstrated low proficiency – but those exceptions were relatively few.
It is perhaps unsurprising that teachers at low-performing schools have low job performance ratings, since 40 percent of teacher evaluations in New York in 2013-2014 were based on student test scores. (State lawmakers have since made a controversial change promoted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) that requires 50 percent of a teacher’s rating to be based on test scores, starting with the 2015-2016 school year).
“When we attempt to draw a straight line between the effort of a teacher and the success of her students, based solely about test scores and ignoring all New analysis argues that better teachers are flocking to better schools - The Washington Post: