Follow the links to one of the most important education policy briefs you will read this year. Teacher Kenneth Bernstein discusses some of the important conclusions of the Economic Policy Institute brief. At a time when the Dept. of Education is pushing to tie teacher evaluation and compensation to student test scores, this Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper (whose title is the same as this diary, and which is a pdf), pulls together the extensive relevant research that demonstrates the dangers of pursuing such a path.
To read the teacherken blog, click here.
This is a must read! Forward copies of the pdf file of the policy brief to state and federal legislators.
Kenneth Bernstein’s blog regarding the Economic Policy Institute brief illustrates the difficulties resulting from attaching teacher evaluations to teacher pay. I would encourage readers to follow the blog discussion as the comments show how perceptions of the value of data vary extremely. Teachers know what is appropriate use of data but parents and others outside education do not. Additionally, I am not suggesting that all educators understand the appropriate use of data.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104004/pdf/20104004.pdf
This study says that the error rate when using standardised test results to evaluate teachers’ and schools’ performance can be 25% or more….
The summary and conclusions chapter (5) is quite blunt about the problems using VAM to tie teacher performance to test scores…
Here is the latest study from NY City showing the stupidity of using student test scores to rate teachers’ effectiveness . People across the nation (especially teachers) should be up in arms over his travesty