Are teacher ratings are a step forward for education?
We are going to say yes. Here's a NYT Story on the latest venture, sort of a status update on where we are at. Here's where we are at:
-Teacher ratings based on value-added test scores are good.
-Trying to find out how the best teachers teach is good.
Where we are headed:
-We test students in a variety of ways, much more frequently (once a week).
-We figure out which teachers teach which kinds of learners best (and vice versa).
-We let the bottom 5% of teachers go each year, replace them and keep improving the teacher corps.
Photo: Prof. Kim Curtis of Duke University, who flunked a student simply for being on a sports team.
The new venture, filming teachers, is a start. Unfortunately teachers judge other teachers instead of looking at learning and getting student feedback. But it is a start. What do you think?
I think this line is brilliant:
"We figure out which teachers teach which kinds of learners best (and vice versa)."
How many of us lose out on learning things, because we learn differently than the teacher does?
Posted by: Suzanne | February 03, 2011 at 05:05 PM