http://www.epi.org/blog/teacher-accountability-chicago-teachers/
Richard Rothstein, as he often does, makes important point after important point in this article. I was fortunate to be part of a large discussion in the School of Education earlier this week, and Lorrie Shepard said some smart things (she tends to do that a lot) about "weighing" versus "weighting." We know traditional forms of teacher evaluation haven't always identified underperforming teachers, and we have to own up to the fact that's a big reason we're seeing policy battles like we see in Chicago. But instead of "weighting" information from student test scores -- meaning make them some percentage of a formula that spits out teacher quality scores -- Shepard says we shouldn't give up "weighing," meaning to accept a variety of evidence that shapes an overall picture of teacher quality that can be judged by trained and qualified administrators.
Richard Rothstein, as he often does, makes important point after important point in this article. I was fortunate to be part of a large discussion in the School of Education earlier this week, and Lorrie Shepard said some smart things (she tends to do that a lot) about "weighing" versus "weighting." We know traditional forms of teacher evaluation haven't always identified underperforming teachers, and we have to own up to the fact that's a big reason we're seeing policy battles like we see in Chicago. But instead of "weighting" information from student test scores -- meaning make them some percentage of a formula that spits out teacher quality scores -- Shepard says we shouldn't give up "weighing," meaning to accept a variety of evidence that shapes an overall picture of teacher quality that can be judged by trained and qualified administrators.