The Answer Sheet: Teacher assessment


Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 02/02/2012

Value-added teacher evaluation goes on trial — literally
By Valerie Strauss
Value-added teacher evaluation goes on trial — literally. Here’s what the transcript might look like if it were to happen. Laugh and cry.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:00 PM ET, 02/02/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teacher assessment

Posted at 10:22 AM ET, 08/21/2011

Students: the Achilles heel of test-based teacher evaluation?
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher tells a story about how some of his students rendered a standardized test entirely uesless by writing about squirrels rather than answering the essay question, showing a big potential weakness of value-added teacher evaluation.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:22 AM ET, 08/21/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teacher assessment

Posted at 07:00 AM ET, 08/16/2011

D.C. teacher tells chancellor why IMPACT evaluation is unfair
By Valerie Strauss
A D.C. public school teacher wrote an open letter to Chancellor Kaya Henderson about her problems with the IMPACT teacher evaluation system. Here it is.

By Valerie Strauss  |  07:00 AM ET, 08/16/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools, Teacher assessment

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 02/27/2011

2 false claims that drive school reform
By Valerie Strauss
"Accountability" and "merit" are compelling concepts, especially when we are talking about adults who are charged with educating our children. But the concepts have been misused in school reform, writes an educator.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 AM ET, 02/27/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Accountability, Charter schools, Guest Bloggers, Performance pay, Teacher assessment | Tags:  accountability movement, charter schools, geoffrey canada, merit pay, michelle rhee, performance pay, school choice, teacher pay, teachers, waiting for superman

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/25/2011

Teachers and nanny cams: Compliance vs. trust
By Valerie Strauss
Are "nanny cams" in classrooms a great way to evaluate how well teachers do their jobs, or are they manifestations of the notion that we simply don't trust teachers?

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teacher assessment, Teacher assessment, Teacher assessment | Tags:  evaluating teachers, gates foundation, gates foundation and met project, met project, teacher assessment, videotaping teachers

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/01/2010

Is D.C.'s teacher evaluation system rigged?
By Valerie Strauss
A professor writes about teacher evaluation systems: "The pendulum has simply swung from one end of absurdity to the other; if many systems have historically rated 99 percent of teachers 'satisfactory,' ... we now have in D.C. a system that declares exactly 50 percent of teachers ineffective or minimally effective."

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teacher assessment, Teacher assessment, Teacher assessment | Tags:  d.c. and impact, impact, michelle rhee, nyc teacher ratings, rhee legacy, teacher evaluation, teacher ratings, value added measures, value-added