US News Roundup - November 2011 Issue of Notepad

Dylan Scott, "Developing The Perfect Teacher Evaluation Policies" Governing, 28 October 2011

Last month, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a report detailing what kind of teacher evaluation policies states have adopted. The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

[Editor's note:  John Thompson, a researcher from the National Education Policy Centre, has described the National Council on Teacher Quality as a "Gates-funded organization dedicated to data-driven, market-oriented "reform." It sees itself as a part of a coalition for "a better orchestrated agenda" for accountability, choice, and using test scores to drive the evaluation of teachers. Its forte is publishing non-peer reviewed opinion pieces under the guise of "policy analysis."    To read more of this article go to http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/fact-checking-national-council-teacher-quality]

The report found that more states are moving toward more stringent teacher evaluations that incorporate student performance. In the last three years, 32 states have made some change to their teacher evaluation policies. More states are holding annual evaluations of teachers and more states added student achievement, such as their scores on state tests, as a critical element of their evaluation criteria.

They conclude that:

·         Teacher effectiveness measures don't have to be perfect to be useful.

·         State review and approval of district evaluations may not be an adequate approach to ensuring quality and rigor.

·         Designing measures of student growth for non-tested grades and subjects is an important challenge facing states.

·         States shouldn't lose sight of the importance of classroom observations.

·         Teacher evaluation policy should reflect the purpose of helping all teachers improve, not just low-performers.

Read more http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/Developing-The-Perfect-Teacher-Evaluation-Policies.html

To read the full report go to http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_stateOfTheStates.pdf

Howard Blume, LAUSD faces suit linking teacher ratings to student performance, Los Angeles Times 31 October 2011

In California, some parents and education advocates are expected to file a lawsuit that would require Los Angeles schools to evaluate teachers and principals based in part on student achievement. At issue, they say, is a 1971 state law that requires all districts to link teacher ratings to student performance. The district's teachers union has objected to such metrics, saying test scores are not reliable measures of teachers' effectiveness.

The issue is bigger than L.A. Unified, said Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Education Trust-West, a nonprofit advocacy group not involved in the pending litigation.

"This has implications for every school district in California," he said. "This has the potential to put districts on notice that they should be fundamentally rethinking their evaluation systems."

The lawsuit was drafted in consultation with EdVoice, whose board includes arts and education philanthropist Eli Broad.

The timing is no accident. District officials had set Tuesday as the deadline for settling key contract provisions, including some involving evaluations.

Nationwide, a growing number of school systems and states have begun to include student data in teacher evaluations. The approach is strongly backed by the Obama administration, although California has not followed the trend.

 Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teacher-evals-20111101,0,781805.story

Walt Gardner, Taking Standardized Tests to an Extreme" Education Week, 17 October 2011

In an attempt to motivate students, Kennedy High School in La Palma issues color-coded identification cards to students based solely on their individual standardized test scores. The Orange County Register reported that students are required to carry their black, gold or white cards in addition to a spiral-bound homework planner with a cover of a matching color

The cards grant students special campus privileges and discounts.

·         The black card given to students who are assessed as advanced in all subjects tested, entitles students to free admission to all home athletic events, discounts to school dances and discounts at participating local businesses.

·         The gold card, given to students who scored proficient or above last year on at least two subjects, or who had moved up a level in at least two subjects, entitles the holder to free admission to specified home athletic games and to limited discounts.

·         The white card for all other students bestows no benefits." In fact, these students are required to stand in a separate cafeteria line at lunch. By the time holders of the black and gold cards have chosen their lunch, the cafeteria often runs out of the most popular food".

Read the article http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2011/10/taking_standardized_tests_to_an_extreme.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

Frederick M. Hess , Getting Moneyball Right, Education Week 20 october 2011

On watching Brad Pitt's new flick Moneyball the other week , Hess has this to say

Here's the problem. Author Michael Lewis made it real clear in the book ... that the problem in baseball prior to Beane's revolution in Oakland was not an absence of data. In fact, baseball has been a geek haven for generations because of all its statistics. The problem? The stats in question - typically home runs, runs batted in, and batting average - are flawed measures of individual performance. They routinely understate (or overstate) a player's value by ignoring the stadium he plays in, how often his teammates get on base, how selective he is at the plate, how well he fields, and so on. A big part of the problem wasn't a lack of numbers; it was a reliance on overly simplistic measures. Consequently, players who hit a lot of home runs or who hit for a high average were massively overpriced, while players who walked a lot or hit a lot of doubles were undervalued.

This is where value-added enthusiasts come in. Value-added is a potentially very useful (if limited) tool, but it's one that's still in its relatively infancy. It can tell us what we might otherwise overlook or fail to see, helping correct our tendency to overvalue or undervalue certain teachers and techniques. The problem is our impatience and, sometimes, hubris. There's a sense among too many would-be reformers that our new edu-statistics are ready for prime-time, and even an inclination to imagine that they can render judgment and common sense superfluous (editor's emphasis).  Nope.

Read more http://www.frederickhess.org/2011/10/getting-emmoneyball-em-right