Matthew Di Carlo of the Albert Shanker Institute always applies a rigorous analysis to any study or report he reviews.
Here he looks at the methodological issues raised by the TNTP review of the DC reforms. Among his concerns: the teachers who responded to the TNTP survey were a non-random sample, and those who responded might be different from those who did not; in addition, the “evaluation” is based on only a single year of data. Di Carlo concludes that the study isn’t very interesting because of its flaws.
When Gary Rubinstein reviewed the same report, he made the sensible point that TFA and TNTP have been recruiting teachers for the DC schools since 2007, so one must wonder why so many of their own recruits are found to be ineffective.
Or is it the veteran teachers who are ineffective?
Linda Darling-Hammond once memorably said that you can’t ” fire your way to Finland,” and nothing in this study indicates otherwise.
In fact, it seems from both Matt and Gary’s analysis that the fastest way to be labeled “ineffective” is to teach in a high-poverty school, and the best assurance of a bonus is to teach in a low-poverty school.
To me, the fundamental problem with this “study” is that TNTP, as Matt notes, is an advocacy organization with a strong point of view, not a research organization known for dispassionate perspective.
I don’t see how anyone can take seriously the research claims of an organization with a clear self-interest as well as conflict of interest.
Let them advocate all they want, and they will. But please, media, recognize that they have a point of view and are not putting evidence-first.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wish some competent and objective eyes would review the “research” in Tennessee indicating that Teach for America is more effective in preparing teachers than most of the state’s teacher training institutions.
As we saw in the run-up to the elections, science/math/facts are often discounted in favor of gut instincts and feelings, particularly when the facts are not what people want to hear. .
What is ironic is that so many of the reformers that push data-driven decision-making are the first ones in line to uncritically accept and promote any piece of so-called “research” that supports their ideological beliefs.
So, we end up with the contradictory stances of reformers in which they promote data-driven decision-making, yet rely on feelings, instincts, and advocacy pieces devoid of any rigorous thought or methods.
And, because so few in the media understand data or research methods, these contradictory stances get very little scrutiny.
I copied your second paragraph to my FB status and got likes within seconds from other concerned parents. Well-said!
Three Cheers for Fuller! He may be at UPenn, but he’s still an Austinite at heart.
Of course that is what will occur…it is called peer effects. We have known about them since the 80s when we first researched tracking. Teachers in predominantly high poverty schools with low achieving students will be at a disadvantage even if you control for poverty. That is because their students’ progress will be compared against the progress of poor students who are not in high poverty schools that have more resources and who are exposed, in class, to higher achieving peers from more affluent homes.
VAM cannot begin to be fair until we have schools that are socioeconomically integrated and preferably
without tracking.
Of course we can’t “fire our way to Finland,” but when was that ever the point?
The whole point is to fire ourselves to Walmart, with lowered wages, reduced benefits, high turnover and tight managerial control of the labor process.
Actually, Rhee got her hooks in DC prior to 2007 with the help and assistance of her StudnetsFirst Senior Fellow, George Parker (WTU – AFT Local 6 President- A guy who could never make a decision on his own. Believe me we go back about 20 years) who failed to enforce the contract that gave teachers first dibs on transfers and open positions. Imagine our surprise to see a position filled that was never advertised and filled by someone with no experience. Thanks George and Michelle Rhee for destroying DCPS. We could never have done it without you.
should be StudentsFirst
Yes! Mortify those big-mouth, greedy, pension-grabbing union teachers and toss them onto the unemployment rolls for the rest of their lives! Hire temporary teachers (TFAs), who will never work long enough to be eligible for a pension. Do away with tenure, and make sure to get rid of any and all teachers before they can become eligible for a pension (for those readers who don’t know–w/o tenure, there is no due process, and teachers can simply not be re-hired and no reason need be given.
Who will suffer most from all of this? Students, of course, who will lose any and all chance to get a good education and who will be subject to relentless testing from teachers who do not question their authority figures. Children, in tern, will also become low-wage, reduced-benefit employees, as they’ll never have had the education (and critical thinking) needed to go any further in life.
Meanwhile, the CEOs and the greedy politicians will continue to prosper.