A reader describes the madness of value-added assessment as practiced in Florida:
| I teach English in a Florida high school. Although I taught all juniors last year, my VAM score was based on the school average for 9th and 10th grade. Why? Because they cease testing in 10th grade except for those who don’t pass. Of my juniors who didn’t pass FCAT as sophomores, I had a stellar retake pass rate–but that’s not going to count for me. Only what other teachers are doing with other kids I couldn’t identify if you paid me big bucks.
Don’t even get me started about what they’re doing to my colleagues in the arts, JROTC, or other electives. Data selection is arbitrary. Considering that we were in a high-needs, inner-city school, none of us came out looking good. I’m all for evaluation, but to conflate test score results with teacher quality is wrongheaded, misguided, and downright crazy. Unfortunately, better ways of doing this take money and time and won’t enrich outside providers’ wallets, so it’ll never happen. For the love of Pete, folks, get noisy. Talk to everyone, and vote for sane candidates in November! |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Elective teachers will be evaluated on whole-school results or perhaps the performance of their students on the FCAT Reading and/or Math test.
District-level resource teachers will be judged on district-wide results, even though I’m sure they only interact with a very small sliver of students within a district.
It’s crazy.
This is nuts. VAM – The gift that keeps giving. Giving nothing of value.
You would think this type of evaluative system would be declared illegal by some court of law somewhere. But think again. This the educational landscape of 2012.
And this will attract people to teaching? A Kafkaesque system? I don’t think so.
As a side note, Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Butler resigned this morning, effective 8/31/12. They are reporting that he wants to “spend more time with his family” but I can’t help but wonder how much the rising public anger and rejection of FCAT testing has to do with this:
http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-07-31/story/florida-education-commissioner-resigns
Who do they have “waiting in the wings”? Be careful and vigilant.
If the Florida Education commissioner were indeed Gerard Butler, I’d fight to keep him! 🙂 It’s Gerard Robinson who’s leaving. Now the nationwide search for someone else who’ll march in lockstep with the crazy begins…
Thanks! Sorry for that error — I don’t even know who Gerard Butler is, LOL. I guess the name has been implanted in my memory somehow by watching TV while commenting on this blog. Oops!
I agree completely that we need to vote for sane candidates in November. But neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama are on the right track regarding education. Obama fully supports Arne Duncan, who is behind so many of these wrong headed initiatives. I can not understand how Obama can turn his back on the very constituents who elected him in the first place…Yes, Teachers! This is going to be a close election, yet I can barely bring myself to vote for a president who, who through his policies, has made my job as a teacher so much more difficult.
I can’t even imagine all the ways Romney would go about dismantling the public school system.
I think I’ll just write-in Diane for President.
I favor the responsible use of VAM however what is described as happening in Florida is truly madness.
There is no “responsible” use of VAM. The whole process is a sham, “vain and illusory” as delineated by Wilson. I know you’ve seen my postings about where to read his work so I won’t repost that now, unless you ask.
Probably the easiest thing for people to understand about using student test scores to “evaluate” a teacher is the fact that it is UNETHICAL. A fifth grade math test is designed to supposedly measure a student’s math skill level/abilities (whole other problem with construct validity here and what those “abilities” really are). It is not designed to supposedly measure the teacher’s teaching abilities. All the major testing organizations, APA, AERA, NCME and even the for profit test makers state that the test should only be used for the purpose for which it is designed. Any other usage is not only INVALID but also UNETHICAL.
VAM, SHAM, VAM, SPAM, SPAM, VAM, SHAM, VAM, SPAM all sung to the Monty Python skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQEg-inKQyM
I am a middle school art teacher in Flo-ri-duh. I agree totally with the post above. I have gotten different stories about how my VAM score will be calculated. I don’t doubt, given the state’s track record this year that it will change after all the scores come out. I don’t know yet our school grade or my VAM score because our school is combined with the high school and won’t be out until those grades are posted. If I am evaluated on how my students do in reading, it may be a good news/bad news situation. I do not get level 1 students as their schedules are filled with double block math, intensive math, reading and language arts, rather mostly level 2 and 3. However, I do get a lot of the lowest of the low, special needs students who need something to put in their schedules. In any case, is it fair? Should I get credit or blame for what my colleagues do rather than for what I do? Was this the intention of the state legislature? Doesn’t it totally destroy the whole reason for applying VAM to individual teachers, e.g. remove bad teachers and reward good ones?
” Doesn’t it totally destroy the whole reason for applying VAM to individual teachers, e.g. remove bad teachers and reward good ones?”
Confusion reigns supreme!!
To paraphrase the comedian Lewis Black again: “I’m glad I took LSD when I was younger just to prepare myself for times like these”.
Write everyone, including the NEA and AFT and tell them, teachers should NOT be evaluated by teacher test scores.
Make sure you know why!!