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Aug. 23: Value Added is No Magic

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  • 08-23-2010
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Drawing inspiration from Goethe's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," IDEA Director John Rogers compares the Los Angeles Times' forthcoming teacher effectiveness database with the inability to control magic.

Like the orginal German poem, the Disney cartoon or live-action movie, the sorcerer's apprentice uses a little bit of magic to ease his chores. Before long, the animated mops and buckets have created an unintended flood.

Similarly, Rogers said, the Times could expect a "flood of unintended consequences" when it publishes the database of 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers from most effective to least. Writing on the Huffington Post, Rogers cites the faults with the value-added analysis and how that data could be used by parents, teachers and others in the community to make rash decisions and negatively affect the school environment.

"Although the apprentice had enough knowledge to set magic in motion, he could not think ahead to what he did not know," Rogers wrote, "...The Times should not believe in the magic of this data, and should realize that it cannot foresee or control all of the consequences."

Read full piece on Huffington Post.

 

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