On False Dichotomies and Warped Reformy Logic
Pundit Claim 1 – Value added modeling is necessarily better than the “status quo”
There exists this strange perspective that we are faced with a simple choice in teacher evaluation – a choice between using student test scores and value-added modeling, or continuing with the status quo. This is a false dichotomy, false dilemma or logical fallacy. In other words, it’s a really stupid argument in which we are forced to assume that there are only two choices that exist. This argument is usually coupled with an implicit assumption that one of the two must be superior.
“Reformers” continue to press the argument that current teacher evaluations are so bad, so unreliable, tha
