Teachers Feel "Teacher Report Cards" Are Unfair

It should not be surprising that parents, lawmakers, and even students are not happy with the current state of education in the U.S. A quick look at the local news in just about any city across the country reveals the stories of teachers engaging in abuse, physical violence, and just plain ineptitude in the ability to teach effectively. True, not all teachers are ineffective or bad. Many more teachers are doing a great job. These great teachers need to be in the system, classroom, and lives of students.

Parents and lawmakers are demanding some sort of accountability for educators paid for by their tax dollars. Teachers across the nation are upset about the possibility that they might be graded using a teacher report card. In Los Angeles, teachers are protesting and demonstrating because they feel like they are being unfairly picked on. The Los Angeles Times created a sort of searchable teacher database and ranked L.A. teachers from best to worst.

Teacher's Performance Evaluation Based on Student Test Scores

There seems to be some sort of problem when the subject of teacher evaluation linked with student performance is brought up. Connie Ordway, a Los Angeles elementary school teacher asks, "When did we become the bad guys? When did we become the ones that we diss, that we hate, that we witch hunt?" some teachers feel they are being singled out, targeted, and accused of not being good enough.

In Los Angeles, the controversial value-added analysis takes each student's test scores from one year and compares those test scores with other years. If overall standardized test scores rise, the teacher is deemed effective. If the scores go down from one year to the next, the teacher is ranked lower, and may get tagged as "least effective" in the evaluation. One would think that this would be a good way to weed out the bad teachers and keep the goods ones.

The Current Teacher Evaluation System Does Not Work

Typically, a teacher's performance is evaluated by principals who observe teachers in action with students as they teach. The principal watches from the back of the classroom and then fills out a teacher evaluation form. In one school where a large number of students were failing, 99 percent of teachers in that school were still rated as "good'" or even "great." Something is not right with the current system of teacher evaluation.

U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan noted, "part of what you need to look at is how much are their students learning each year. I think that's basically common sense." Many parents and some lawmakers apparently agree. New teacher evaluation laws that link teacher evaluation with student test scores and performance have already been passed in Colorado. There, even tenured teachers can lose their jobs if their evaluations prove their teaching to be ineffective.

Sources:

Report Cards for Teachers Test Nerves in L.A.

Maureen Downey: Teacher Report Cards

Teacher Report Cards Are Flawed, UFT Head Says