I published a post with a photo of a teacher who was named Teacher of the Year by her colleagues but found “unsatisfactory” or “ineffective” by the value-added methods of her state. I knew her name–Mrs. Cook–but nothing more.
Here is the story. She teaches first grade in Florida. Her school got a low grade, so every teacher lost points. Her VAM rating was based on students she never taught,
She is a victim of a nutty system imposed by Jeb Bush, Rick Scott and ALEC.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Forget union dues, everybody start looking for a labor lawyer..team up and get a class action suit going…sue local boards, state boards, commissioners, governors, Arne and Barack….all the way up! Crash BOE meetings, ALEC meetings, we’re not going to take it anymore!
I think that right now, school boards and teachers are pretty much fighting together against the state.
Putting VAM inside of a point score system cannot work…whether it is an individual score or a group score. If you go with group, which is more collegial, you lose if school scores are low. If you go with individual scores, all of the unintended consequences to the student teacher relationship occur. VAM has no place inside a high stakes evaluation system–especially these idiotic point systems.
So how do we fight this if our union supported it?
Good question. The FEA is suing, but local unions voted for these plans (of course in Miami it was tied to health insurance and bonus pay that was already distributed so it wasn’t much of a choice). I like the idea of using union funds to hire a good lawyer as you mentioned.
In Florida, if you do not teach a tested subject (or a tested grade level in elementary school and even 11th/12th grade), then your score is most likely going to be based on a school average. Students start the test in 3rd grade, but VAM scoring doesn’t start until 4th grade because there is no previous data to compare. So, if you are a K, 1, 2, 3, specials/elective (art, music, PE, drama, etc.), social studies, calculus, etc. teacher, your VAM is based either on students you don’t teach or in a secondary setting, the scores of your students in reading and/or math.
Eventually, districts will have to create end-of-course exams for non-tested subjects. However, at this point in time, it is uncertain whether students will be held accountable for their performance on these tests. Nevertheless, I don’t see how a bubble test will gauge how well a student plays his instrument, calculate improvement in physical fitness, or judge the quality of artwork.
Absolutely insane.
The Teacher of the Year is quite brave to post her photo. Glad she did! There will be more, given the insanity of beating up on kids and teachers. One suggestion: do not ask AFT to help her fight her battles. AFT Pres. just worked a done deal for teachers to take a teacher bar exam to prove their teach-worthyness. We did need one more test? Right? Insane! A joke! Joining in to bash the same people who pay your salary and ask for your support and representation. Shame on you! You had a price, and you were bought! And, you tossed the teachers under the RTTT bus. Shame on you! AFT snuck it in and it was sent out on Twitter today. Asked her about it last night…no answer. Shame on you!
How school reform has improved things.
This is all top down management. If you don’t help your boss look good, then you are down graded and/or fired.
Your job performance has very little to do with teacher evaluation. I’ve seen excellent teachers receive poor evaluations. I’ve also seen obvious suck up teachers that could not write a good sentence move up to vice principal.
Other teachers wanting better classes, bigger classroom budgets, nicer schedules, etc. volunteered to snitch on other teachers.
Please don’t forget to add Arne Duncan and President Obama’s name to the list of people to blame for this nutty system in Florida. If you read SB736 it has Race to the Top all over it. Of course the Florida Republicans used RTTT to devise the most mean spirited asinine evaluation system possible, but let’s not forget where the impetus and funding came from. Arne the Great in his infinite wisdom must have realized that standardized tests do no exist for most subjects or grades when he mandated that student test scores be a significant part of teacher evaluations. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out this would happen. In Miami we still don’t have the VAM portion of our evaluations, yet we were ordered to fill out a survey providing teacher feedback to the state about the new evaluations and there were several questions pertaining to student growth data that we can’t possibly answer. You can read more about this absurdity here “Survey Says?” http://kafkateach.wordpress.com.
And this is what they call teacher evaluation????? What a joke on us. Did you see the video of the teacher who got into the ALEC meeting and spoke the truth to them?
I’m a Paraprofessional, not a teacher, do Reading Groups.I love working with my kids and helping them succeed.I’m So against blaming the teacher for students who “just don’t dig academics”, so the school test scores are dragged down by these types of kids without any motivation. It’s not our teachers’ fault!!! I see these dedicated teachers at school late, bringing grading home, coming in at 7 am. before the kids arrive at 8:30 a.m.
How about developing vocational training for students who have no desire for academics, but they have skills that can be drawn out to work with their hands….our electricians,carpenters, cosmeticians, retail, A/C repair guys, plumbers….Hands on education in 7th Gr. We know the kids who would love this type of a program for them. Why blame the teachers for low test scores….what’s happening to this Country of ours?? There used to be vocational training for students when I was a kid and Industrial Arts at Middle School. My kids loved, metalworking,sewing,cooking and carpentry in Ind. Arts, but those courses were cut!!! All 5 of my kids. Check out the parents who never check homework assignments of their kids or help them at night….This is so irrational…Jeb.