In 2010, the Los Angeles commissioned a rating system based on test scores and published the individual names of teachers and their ratings. New York City did the same last year. To say this was controversial is putting it mildly.
Many researchers opposed it, as did Wendy Kopp and Bill Gates. If the purpose of the ratings is to help teachers improve, how exactly does it help to publish those ratings? Shouldn’t they be part of a discussion between principals and teachers? Right after the ratings went public in Los Angeles, a fifth grade teacher committed suicide. His name was Rigoberto Ruelas. Collateral damage, you might say.
John Ewing, the head of Math for America, called this thuggish use of data “mathematical intimidation,” and said that mathematicians have an obligation to speak out against it.
Nonetheless, both candidates for mayor in Los Angeles say they approve the practice.
Is there any evidence that the public releases in either L.A. or NYC improved teaching?
Please, someone, get some informed advisors for these candidates.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
L.A. mayoral candidates support making teacher evaluations public.
Politics should never be a part of education!
http://www.examiner.com/article/l-a-mayoral-candidates-support-making-teacher-evaluations-public
What does this prove about the teacher? This to me is a right to privacy issue involving student information. The scores belong to the students. The teacher is there teaching the information and testing the information. Never has it been mentioned that maybe, just maybe, little Johnny came to school without breakfast and his parents weren’t home when he left. Nor is it mentioned that Mary might of had to walk through a gang neighborhood and might even have AD and couldn’t concentrate.
When is common sense coming back?
Proves NOTHING! This is about destroying public education and destroying public school teachers FOR PROFIT. We have a FEED market for the DEFORMERS.
What would be the goal of doing this? Is it to humiliate the teachers? Is it to highlight those considered excellent? Is it to point out who will need some interventions? I am so done with this posture!! You are all absolutely correct. politics has no place whatsoever in educating our youth!!
The teacher’s name was Rigoberto Ruelas. Some of my high school students went to that elementary school.
It seems that the madness will not stop with this #rttt nonsense. In LA, we cannot get out from under the thumbs of Eli Broad, Richard Bloomberg, Arne Duncan, and our own superintendent, John Deasy. I fear for our schools. I fear for our kids.
It must have been traumatic for the students. I’m curious, was there any legal recourse for the family in this situation? Did the sue the paper or district? Just wondering.
Gates is opposed to making them public, and so is every other thinking corporate education reformer. They understand that making this data public is handing ammunition to the opposition. Why give everyone opposed to VAM all the data they need to prove that the numbers bob up and down from year to year like corks in a kiddie pool?
That’s a fair point. If these aren’t published, nobody outside the city education administrations will have access to all the data for individual teachers without a foil request. On balance, sunshine may be better.
Dead on Ron, and that’s exactly why I support making them public. Look at what Gary Rubenstein did with the data in NYC. He proved that they spent (wasted) all that time and money and got no usable, valid results to show for it in spite of Bloomberg’s loud protestations to the contrary. The release of data can be turned to our favor by replicating that after having prepared the public to be on the lookout for an independent, 3rd party analysis. I’m sure the math community would be willing to weigh in. The best way to stop the use of VAM for student, teacher and school level high stakes evaluations is to let the public see how badly it fails at that, to see how much of their kids time and tax dollars have been wasted on the illegitimate use of VAM on something it was never intended to be used for.
Do people in publicly-elected positions have evaluations?
That evaluation would be the ballot….but I still think it would be a great idea to develop a parody evaluation for mayors, governors, perhaps even the big time donors.
Well, that worked out real well for the people of South Carolina.
Amen! The should be pointing fingers at themselves.
Didn’t both Gates and Duncan initially approve the publishing of names. I recall Duncan endorsed, then changed his mind.
If this is the caliber of mayoral candidates LA has to offer, I pity what’s coming next for public ed.
When LA Times published the rankings that it had commissioned, the loudest voice to support release of teacher names was Duncan. He said, what is there to hide?
He may have been informed about what there is to hide since then.
Thanks. I thought as much. And I don’t trust him anymore with his “reversal”.
Schoolgal,
Always assume Duncan is lying. It saves time.
Just a correction in the name of our colleague who committed suicide. It’s Rigoberto Ruelas. Cheryl OrtegaUTLA Date: Thu, 9 May 2013 15:15:23 +0000 To: cortega25@hotmail.com
Thank you for correction. Change made and fixed.
Thank you C.O. for this correction. At the time of this outrageous invasion of teachers’ privacy, and slander against them, this man who committed suicide was portrayed by those who actually knew him as a teacher, and as human being, as a dedicated and beloved teacher and a gentle well-respected man who was committed to his profession. The LA Times gave the noble profession of public school teaching a death blow to sell newspapers. It was shameful.
How much of democracy do we have when our choice is limited to a male or female corporate tool?
That’s like getting to choose the color of the rope you’re going to be hung with.
Does anyone remember when urban districts were desperate for teachers? I do.
In 1964 when I set out to find my first teaching job, it was generally known that “anyone with a heartbeat” could get a job in the “inner-city.” Without the benefit of a teaching credential, the suburbs wouldn’t even grant me an interview, but when I showed up at the personnel office in Cleveland, the clerk pulled out a map of the city and asked, “Where would you like to work?” I chose a school that was close to my apartment.
I can’t speak about the whole nation, but I can tell you that in the Los Angeles area where I now live, NONE of the teacher-bashing is coming from affluent places such as Beverly Hills or Palos Verdes. No, virtually all of it is coming from Los Angeles, where so many of our poorest children live. And so when the next teacher shortage hits, the affluent school districts will be first in line again, while Los Angeles will be back to trying desperately to staff classrooms in September. Will they place the blame on “the unions?”
The worst consequence of the present “reform” movement will be a lack of qualified teachers the likes of which we’ve never seen. Just wait.
Both of these candidates are not really proper for the job. That is why as a democrat I supported Kevin James, a republican but not a crazy Tea Partier, for mayor. There is nothing wrong with what I call a real republican who is actually fiscally responsible and socially liberal. Most democrats are now basically right wing republicans and take away our rights and blow the money away like most republicans. Kevin James is not that kind of person. He is a former federal prosecutor of financial crimes. He has worked to stop AIDS tirelessly and has supported disadvantaged communities. In fact, he is the person who persuaded them to sell their Hollywood building and move AIDS help into all disadvantaged communities. L.A. is totally corrupt, what more can I say. Since we beat them on $90 billion Measure J with only three weeks and less than $25,000 there are now 12 bills to lower bond passage from 2/3 to 55% to put all into “Permadebt.”
George…although I often agree with you, this time I do not. Both the candidates for Mayor today, Garcetti and Gruehl, have enough experience to run for the office. Kevin James had no experience, just Republican dogma, in his failed attempt to enter this race for Mayor.
I am not thrilled with either candidate, and would have preferred Sheila Kuehl who is running for LA County Supervisor and who is superior to all with her California legislative experience in both the Assembly and the Senate, and her determined push for universal single payer healthcare for all.
But given who is actually in the field, I think Garcetti is the better candidate…though Gruehl certainly has the big corporate and union cash behind her…and her ads using Bill Clinton..but do you notice he only says he has seen her work hard, but not that he has seen her succeed? As to “permadebt”, agree that it is imperative for our backward state to enforce a 51% rule and eliminate the 2/3 rule.
Isn’t this probably just political posturing, like Reagan and prayer in schools?
Not that I don’t think people should speak against it, but it is probably just meant to polarize in search of votes.
If it did/does come to pass, we teachers willl need to keep our perspective about what is really happening (that this is all due to economy issues and politics), we can be above this instead of being demoralized by it. Our children need us to turn the other cheek (somehow, someway–maybe even in a way nobody has thought of yet). We need a little Eleanor Roosevelt mentality in the mix—nobody can make you feel a certain way unless you let them. (I know we are up against a lot, but to stand strong in self confidence is just as important as standing against the extreme measures being brought to the table). People suggesting these types of things are hoping for reactions.
Eyes on the prize. . .
if we are teachers, that is our prize.
Love your postivie stance Joanna….but it is not only being demoralized, it is losing careers and being fired with little chance of finding work in education…and most of the older teachers who get fired are too exhausted to flip hamburgers at MacD.
I think they are dead serious. And I have to wonder who is donating to their campaigns. I bet they both took money from Rhee as well.
Kopp and Gates only oppose publicizing teacher data because they know that the more exposure this bogus data receives, the sooner it will be rejected. They’d rather have princals and districts do their dirty work behind closed doors, where teachers can be shamed and intimidated.
I agree with those who point out that the reformers themselves don’t support publication because it will prove just how bogus VAM is for teacher and school level evaluations leading to high stakes decisions, and that’s exactly why I support making it public. Look at what Gary Rubenstein did with the data in NYC. He proved that they spent (wasted) all that time and money and got no usable, valid results to show for it in spite of Bloomberg’s loud protestations to the contrary once that became known. The release of data can be turned to our favor by replicating that after having prepared the public to be on the lookout for an independent, 3rd party analysis. I’m sure the math community would be willing to weigh in on the accuracy of the 3rd party analysis. The best way to stop the use of VAM for student, teacher and school level high stakes evaluations is to let the public see how badly it fails at that, to see how much of their kids time and tax dollars have been wasted on the illegitimate use of VAM on something it was never intended to be used for. The only thing the reformers can do in defense is to lie and deceive, they have no other leg to stand on in this. VAM is one of the legs of the stool we can and must break, and it is already rotten to start with. It’s the cornerstone of the testing industrial complex.
http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2012/02/28/analyzing-released-nyc-value-added-data-part-2/
Gary’s work goes all the way to a part 6!
I’m going to have to go with the Devil’s Advocate position on this one as well. Personally, I know I’m an effective educator, and I would almost prefer to get my name published in a newspaper with the rating “partially effective” or even “ineffective” next to it. Anyone who has ever worked with or studied under me would know that rating is absurd, and the absurdity of these rating systems would be exposed sooner rather than later.
Ninja, there are some teachers in my school (as there are in every school) that everyone knows to be excellent. All it will take is for one of them to get a “2” or “progressing” rating for everyone to lose respect for the system itself, and that will be the beginning of the end.
Doesn’t matter how good you really are. The stats can still get you fired. I think most good teachers would be mortified to see their name in print. I know I would. When that happened in NYC, papers were following these teachers and putting their pics on
the front page with the headline “Worst Teacher”. I wouldn’t wish that on any teacher even if they were the worst teacher ever. Even if parents know you are a good teacher, reporters will get them to say things unflattering.
data is flawed you cannot use a test to measure the education & life skills a teacher provides
Remember when teaching was also about making kids better people? When we read for pleasure and not for a test…When teachers had control of curriculum? I do and education was much better. I also remember a Los Angeles with many more middle class jobs.
This is totally NUTS! More data miming of BAD data.
After reading the post here about the so-called AFT survey, I feel the same way about Randi.
I have a question about evaluating teachers with students’ test score: how are teachers who do not teach math or English evaluated? e.g. art, music, or PE teachers?
To answer your question: POORLY AND UNETHICALLY (of course that applies to the math and LA teachers also)!!
I don’t understand. Are these others also evaluated based on the students’ math and English score?
Dizcology,
Only about 30% of teachers can be evaluated by test scores in reading and math. States and districts are making up crazy ways to evaluate the others. For example, asking teachers of non-tested subjects to choose whether they want to be evaluated by the school’s math or reading scores.
This makes no sense at all! Crazy indeed. And what if the teacher says no?
Actually now we are on this subject, how were teachers evaluated in the past?
In my state, those teachers who do not teach tested subjects (English and Math) have that section of their evaluations replaced with “SLO” goals, or Student Learning Objectives. A lot of teachers are worried about their SLO goals (everyone needs to do them and they count for at least a portion of everyone’s evaluation), but personally I find them very easy to “game”. You just have to think like Deb Gist or Michelle Rhee. That’s all I’ll say about that, other than that it is completely unfair to those of us teaching “tested” subjects because the SLO section is so easy to hand yourself a high mark on.
Of all the NYC media outlets that published the teacher “data,” public radio WNYC’s Schoolbook presentation is surprisingly deplorable. They converted each schools’ and teachers’ data into searchable and visually accessible information. And STILL today, readers go to their home page, they are asked if they want to search for “teacher reports.” I encourage members to contact WNYC directly and ask them to remove the “data.” I responded to my membership renewal letter last fall by saying I’d rejoin when they stop trashing teachers and publishing such rotten misinformation.