This week our students in grades 3-10 will take the state’s Standards Based Assessment in reading, writing and math. Next week those students in grade 4, 8, and 10 will take the science portion of this exam. Little do the students know that their performance on the tests may soon be viewed as a way to determine their teacher’s effectiveness. While there is nothing wrong with tying a teacher to his or her students’ performance on standardized tests, I feel that it is a mistake to assume that these scores are the definitive measure of a teacher’s worth.
For the past several years, many in education have struggled with how to determine teacher effectiveness. The simple way to do this is to compare student test scores from year to year (this is called a Value-added model, VAM) and attribute a gain or loss in scores to the teacher. The VAM assumes that other factors that affect student performance on tests e.g., prior teachers, peer culture and home support are negligible. Anyone who works with students knows that this is not the case. A better way to determine teacher effectiveness is to use an evaluation system that is based on standards that are supported by research on effective teaching. In sum, the VAM measures tied to a teacher should not outweigh a teacher’s evaluation when making a high stakes, individual level decision. I am pleased that KPBSD’s new teacher evaluation system allows us to avoid using the simplistic VAM approach toward determining teacher effectiveness.
2 Comments
Thank you so much for acknowledging this. As a social worker with close ties to schools I see how those outside influences impact students and teachers every day. I also see the negative and significant impact of state testing anxiety on students, teachers, and the climate of schools as a whole.
This is kind of a relief to hear from our Superintendent. I do not know any teachers who disagree with the need for teacher accountability, but using the testing scores as the primary measure does not seem to me to be the way to go. I like the new KPBSD teacher evaluation process, and I had some reservations at first. I think the important thing for me was trust, not so much in the process, but in my principal – the person doing my evaluation. Together we walked through the process, and I think I came out with a positive evaluation that showed my strengths (and my weaknesses) and helped me work on both of them throughout the year.
Student test scores should be just one measure, not the entire measure of a teacher’s evaluation.