Value added?

Formula for rating teacher effectiveness?

I haven't really decided what I feel about this article.

On the one hand, having value added grading and a formula for teachers to be show effective is great for the teachers who teach to the middle. If you teach advanced students, they won't be making that much growth and you will look like a bad teacher - but really they just are much smarter than the standardized tests allow them to be. So if you exceed in 5th grade, you cannot do much better in the grades ahead.

It also may hurt the teachers who get the transient classes. When kids keep coming and going, how much of their "instruction" is what you did? If so many kids move around so much, how can you rate teaching that way?

On the other hand, I love data. And statistics. And formulas. And I really, really want to figure out how to create an assessment that shows true learning. True, authentic learning.

Once a good assessment is created, then we can discuss value added teacher evaluations. Because who are we kidding - these tests are not measuring true learning.

And if the kids are not LEARNING, we are not TEACHING.