History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
I vote no on VOTE (Videotaped Observations for Teacher Evaluation)
- 12-07-2010
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Blog by Stephen Krashen/Schools Matter
The New York Times recently ran two articles on videotaped observations for teacher evaluation. One of the articles reported that Bill Gates has invested $335 million on research to evaluate this approach ("Teacher Ratings Get New Look, Pushed by a Rich Watcher," Dec. 3). Research uses a bogus measure: The goal of the Gates-funded research is to find correlations between teaching practices observed on the videotapes and achievement. Achievement will be measured by the use of value-added scores, gains on standardized tests. The use of value-added scores has already been thoroughly criticized as being unstable and invalid as a measure of teaching effectiveness. The Times did not mention the controversy surrounding the use of value-added ratings, sending the incorrect message that the use of this method is perfectly fine. The expense: If they are "validated," the use of videotaped observations by school districts promises to be extremely expensive. (more…)
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