Alex-2011


 * Research Question: How are teachers evaluated by standards?**
 * Author: Alex Carlson**

**Research**

//__**Source One**__//: School Reform //Should evaluations of teachers rest on students’ test scores?//

**Summary:** Teacher effectiveness and student success rides on test scores. The standardized test scores seek to measure student achievement and progress, but now they are beginning to measure whether or not a teacher is successful. Because some of the 99,000 public schools are deemed “failing” reformers seek to improve test scores and school ratings by improving teacher effectiveness. One idea is that teachers will be paid based on student performance, or basically merit pay. The higher students do on their tests, the higher the salary the teacher will receive. However, some argue that inciting teachers to compete with each other for pay is the “wrong way to go about improving education.” Another idea that reformers present, is to create publicly funded, privately run, charter schools that would compete with the public schools. Some of the nations teachers in low-income districts face the daunting fact that low-performing students are concentrated here where inadequate funding, teacher turnover, poverty, and many other external factors make it extremely difficult for students to excel. Matthew Di Carlo, a researcher with the American Federation of Teachers, shows that 60% of variation in students’ school achievement is “explained by student and family background characteristics” and that, “only 10 to 15 percent of achievement differences can be laid to teachers.”

//Time // reporters present the case for a “value-added” analysis which compares teachers by evaluating the progress of each student in their classroom against that student’s on progress from previous years. This would show if the student has improved upon his or her learning and thus, shown whether or not the teacher has either positively or negatively effected the student’s scores. This approach takes into account student’s external learning factors such as poverty or learning disabilities. To me, this makes the most sense.

**Reaction:** After reading this article, I was even more angry about the idea of creating more charter schools and using test scores to pay teachers. To me, everything about charter schools seems wrong. They are both public and private at the same time. Each time a student leaves the public school system to go charter, more money is taken away from the already budget tight public schools because the public schools are basically paying the charter schools to teach their students. Then, charter schools are privately owned as if educating the nation’s children is some sort of business wherein the owners and investors seek monetary profit. Why is their goal money when it should be educating the students?

**Citation:** Clemmitt, M. (2011, April 29). School reform Should Evaluations of Teacher Rest on Students' Test Scores?. CQ Researcher Online. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from < []>.

//**__Source Two__**//: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, The Relationship Between Standards-Based Teacher Evaluation Scores and Student Achievement: Replication and Extensions at Three Sites

**Summary:** This essay explored the idea that schools moving towards standrds-based evaluation systems must be wary of the chance that the evaluation systems may not be reliable or valid. They should be especially concerned since these scores may be used to make decision about teachers regarding termination, tenure, and pay based on student test scores. In Cincinnati, teachers are evaluated in four areas: planning and preparation, creating an environment for learning, teaching for learning, and professionalism. A related question, however, deserves more analysis: do teachers whose students are primarily low income, non-white, or limited in English proficiency have less opportunity to teach in ways that allow them to earn high evaluation scores?

**Reaction:** The essay was pretty interesting. I think the way that they evaluate teachers is effective and probably valid and reliable. This essay also brought up the question of low-income and impoverished students and whether or not they should be measured on the same standards as students who have more than them. I thought the essay was very informative and made me think about whether or not low-income students should be evaluated on the same standards as students with more resources.

**Citation:** Milanowski, Anthony., Kimball, Steve., White, Brad. Consortium for Policy Research in Education. //The Relationship Between Standards-Based Teacher Evaluation Scores and Student Achievement: Replication and Extensions at Three Sites//. March 2004.

**//__Source Three__//:** Getting teacher evaluation right

**Summary:** Research shows that a student’s achievement and improvements are influenced by much more than any individual teacher. Some of the factors include: “School factors such as class sizes, materials, instructional time, and resources for learning, home and community supports and challenges, individual student needs and abilities, health, and attendance, peer culture and achievement, prior teaching and school, differential summer learning loss which especially effects low-income children”. Teachers measured effectiveness varies significantly when different statistical methods are used. This brings up the concern that teacher evaluation is not accurate, valid, or consistent.

**Reaction:** The contents of this article were not shocking to me. The fact that teachers have been evaluated on different standards and there is no nation wide evaluation system to measure teacher effectiveness and success makes me think the whole evaluation system is not reputable. There is no standardization to these evaluations, no consideration of the external factors that affect both student and teacher success. Based on this article, I do not think that the teacher evaluation will ever be “right” or inclusive of every aspect that would be measured in order to determine if a teacher is successful or not.

**Citation:** Strauss, Valerie. “Getting teacher evaluation right.” 15 Sept. 2011. Accessed 28 Nov. 2011. []

**//Source Four//:** Should Students Grade Their Teachers?

**Summary:** The article presented the fact that teachers are very aware of teacher evaluation websites such as RateMyTeachers.com and RateMyProfessor.com. On these websites, teacher are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5 in a variety of categories that include: Clarity, Helpfulness, Popularity, and Easiness. There is also a comment section where the users can leave comments which range from constructive to absolutely destructive. Though these websites are not used to officially evaluate teachers, similar surveys could be implemented into the evaluation process. In Memphis, school teachers are not only evaluated by their principals, but also their students. The president of the Memphis Education Association told the //Memphis Commercial Appeal// that this may not be the best way to evaluate teachers. He brought up the point that younger students will not be able to effectively asses their teachers. Instead, as he points out, it will be a popularity contest. Educators across the nation have different opinion about incorporating student feedback into evaluations. Some think the idea will provide a new level of accuracy to the evaluations, others think it will be a popularity contest that will end in teachers jobs being on the line.

**Reaction:** This essay provided a good argument for both sides of the argument about whether or not student assessments should be included into teacher evaluation. In my personal opinion, I think that student assessments should be included, but at a higher level of education. For example, I have already filled out a few teacher evaluations at the University and I even had a few to do while I was in high school. I would think that these evaluations would not be as useful in getting accurate evaluations of educators in younger levels.

**Citation:** Long, Cindy. “Should Student Grade Their Teachers?” NEA Today 25 July 2011. Accessed 28 Nov. 2011. []

Overall Reaction to Your Research
My research brought up a lot of different methods by which teachers are being evaluated. It also presented me with what is happening because of these evaluations. In some cases, schools are considering switching to a merit pay system which would reward the "successful" teachers with a higher salary and punish those who are not as successful with a lower salary. I do not think that there will ever be a perfect way to evaluate teachers, but based on the various articles reformers and educators are taking the right steps to improve teacher evaluation. I hope that an effective and valid method can be reached so that teachers who are successful and passionate about educating the youth can become model teachers that less successful teachers can base their learning methods of off.

The research that I found related a lot to reform efforts in Rhode Island. The district that came to mind the most was the district of Central Falls which is most famous, or infamous rather, for firing all of the teachers in the high school. The district went through an evaluation process in order to get more effective teachers to help to try to redeem their failing status. Schools around the nation should do something similar. Perhaps not as dramatic, but they have the right idea. The school district of Central Falls seems to be doing all that they can possibly do in order to get rid of their failing status. Other schools should take their lead and began to evaluate their teachers more thouroughly and only hire those who are passionate and clearly care about bettering the students through education- preparing them for higher education, not just for a high test score.
 * Relevance in Rhode Island Schools**