The NYC Teacher's Grading System

[orcus116]

Was wondering what everyone's thoughts on this were. Have to jet soon so couldn't find the best article but this gives a quick rundown of what is involved:

https://online.wsj.com/article/AP8fb99105479c4174b56b797e9300f89e.html

Basically teachers are getting rated 1 to 100 based on how well their students did on tests. I have two major problems with this. First off, basing anything on a graded system like a standardized test that someone else took is probably the least accurate system. You could be the greatest teacher in the world but have a classroom full of students who just do not give a shit regardless of how you try to handle them or on the flipside have a teacher with no real classroom skills with a class full of kids who are bookworms. Not to mention that the system is already full of errors. My mom's a teacher and just from the way her kids are she has said a number of times how less and less kids even pay attention in class so to have someone's career ride on their backs seems a little alarming.

Another point I don't like is how the results are being made public because, well, the public and statistics don't mesh very well in my opinion. One of the heads of this study has said that she didn't wish for anyone to think that a low number (40-50s and lower) to mean that the teacher is terrible but I can't help but think of the types of parents that exist today and how they're see that one number and just assume that someone is actually a bad teacher based on this wildly inaccurate system.

I do agree that some kind of system for grading teachers needs to be in place but this is definitely not a good one, especially basing off something as moronic as standardized tests. They're trying to push that a bad system is better than no system at all but when there are legitimate jobs on the line, is it really?

[Fiery Winds]

Being a publicly funded school, I agree that scores and performance statistics should be made available to the public.  I disagree that standardized testing results should be the sole indicator of student performance.  Obviously, people expect a teacher to be able to teach students the material and if they don't, they should be held accountable.  However, the situation is much more complex than that.  School administration, climate, and facilities play just as much a role in student achievement as the person at the front of the room.

Disclosure: I am a newly credentialed teacher in CA (haven't had my own classroom yet).

[El Barto]

One teacher getting graded on one classroom's test scores isn't very good, as you pointed out.  However,  6 classes twice a year per teacher, and then compared with other teachers in the same school and other schools in the same area would be pretty useful.

[Scheavo]

One teacher getting graded on one classroom's test scores isn't very good, as you pointed out.  However,  6 classes twice a year per teacher, and then compared with other teachers in the same school and other schools in the same area would be pretty useful.

I'd say common sense should play a role, as well. Use this method to uncover a problem, but don't use this method to actually solve a problem.

[Dr. DTVT]

I want to preface this by saying I agree this is about the worst metric in the world for grading teachers, for reasons stated here and others I won't bother with since we're all on the same side.

My question is how would you grade a school teacher?  College professors have student evaluations (some college students are capable of being objective) as well as internal peer review (other professors from within and outside the department, and usually only for tenure).  These mechanisms work at the college level, but would actually be difficult to implement at lower levels, even peer review.  I think closed circuit recording of the teacher would work, except that it takes a lot of man-hours to watch days and days of classes required to get form a semi-accurate assessment.