Reform: More About Reporting Value Added Ratings

Even if you're a big fan of value-added measurements of teacher performance, the LA Times' decision to post names and ratings of individual teachers might give you some pause.  It's one thing to evaluate, rate and even pay teachers based on test scores, but another thing to make those ratings public.  In fact, some states prohibit the release of this information based on it being a personnel issue.  Others prohibit it because the technology for evaluating test data and linking it to teachers is so uncertain.  According to the Data Quality Campaign, which tracks this issue closely, "no one is planning to make individual teacher data public and no one is asking for it in that manner." They also sent along an ECS report on state activity around VAM (here), which may be useful. My partial and potentially inaccurate list of states that ban publicizing this kind of information includes NC, VA, TX, TN, Mississippi, and LA.  No one seems to have the full list -- have asked the USDE, UFT, and others but nothing back yet.

 

Comments

[Norm]

Respect the Constitutional Rights of teachers and students. The Department of Education is an unconstituional body and should be closed. Anyone gathering data on individuals and publishing that data without the express written consent of those individuals should be ended. Placing any personal data on line should be ended.

The day will come when there is a full accounting of these breaches of public trust by institutions.