Teacher evaluation: What it should look like

Valerie Strauss:

A new report from Stanford University researcher Linda Darling-Hammond details what the components of a comprehensive teacher evaluation system should look like at a time when such assessments have become one of the most contentious debates in education today.

Much of the controversy swirls around the growing trend of using students' standardized test scores over time to help assess teacher effectiveness.

This "value-added" method of assessment -- which involves the use of complicated formulas that supposedly evaluate how much "value" a teacher adds to a student's achievement -- is considered unreliable and not valid by many experts, though school reformers have glommed onto it with great zeal.

Any reader of this blog will have seen numerous pieces from educators, mathematicians and others explaining why this method is unfair, as well as pieces on what does work in teacher evaluation.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 12, 2012 2:07 AM
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