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
Neither fair nor accurate • Research-based reasons why high-stakes tests should not be used to evaluate teachers
- 01-07-2011
-
Opinion by Wayne Au/Rethinking Schools
A former high school teacher, Wayne Au is a Rethinking Schools editor and assistant professor at the University of Washington, Bothell Campus.
In August, for instance, the Los Angeles Times printed a massive study in which LA student test scores were used to rate individual teacher effectiveness. The study was based on a statistical model referred to as value-added measurement (VAM). As part of the story, the Times published the names of roughly 6,000 teachers and their VAM ratings (see sidebar, p. 37). In October the New York City Department of Education followed suit, publicizing plans to release the VAM scores for nearly 12,000 public school teachers. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan lauded both the Times study and the NYC Department of Education plans, a stance consistent with Race to the Top guidelines and President Obama’s support for using test scores to evaluate teachers and determine merit pay. Current and former leaders of many major urban school districts, including Washington, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee and New Orleans’ Paul Vallas, have sought to use tests to evaluate teachers. In fact, the use of high-stakes standardized tests to evaluate teacher performance à la VAM has become one of the cornerstones of current efforts to reshape public education along the lines of the free market. On the surface, the logic of VAM and using student scores to evaluate teachers seems like common sense: The more effective a teacher, the better his or her students should do on standardized tests. However, although research tells us that teacher quality has an effect on test scores, this does not mean that a specific teacher is responsible for how a specific student performs on a standardized test. Nor does it mean we can equate effective teaching (or actual learning) with higher test scores. (more…)
Send this
Print this
