Now that public officials demand that teachers produce higher test scores or get fired, this reader named Dienne has a great idea. She was inspired by the efforts in Missouri to revise the state Constitution to require that teachers be evaluated by the standardized test scores of their students. She writes:
“I think value added evaluations should be put in the U.S. Constitution.
“For elected officials, that is. If your VAM score isn’t up to par, that’s it, you’re out no matter what the election results say. This would also apply to positions directly appointed by elected officials, BTW.”
Think of the possibilities!
If the economy doesn’t grow, you are fired!
If unemployment goes up, you are fired!
If poverty increases, you are fired!
If crime increases, you are fired!
Why should teachers be the only ones judged by results?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A group called Educators for Shared Accountability calculated a VAM report for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last year: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/educators_issue_vam_report_for.html
His score was not good.
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With today’s climate it should be called value subtracted
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I have a strong feeling that most politicians will be rated as Highly Effective Corporate Lap Dogs.
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Highly effective at shoveling the “BS” to the public-at-large and at the public’s own dime too!
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If only…
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Many of the Bragster politicians and CorpReFormer$ who don’t miss an opportunity to point fingers at teachers and students, claiming that both are dumb as dirt. Would TRIPPLE-dare them to take the EOCT in high school and post their test results…every year while in office, voting on educational matters, or paying $zill to deform education.
Let’s see what they are made of! Well, we have enough evidence of their über-inflated egos taking up most of their grey matter.
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Live by the sword; die by the rubric.
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Witty..
I will remember this one!
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Remember the rubric is the devil’s tool!
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Many of our politians want to run the scool system like a business Well this country was build off gree, thats how we will fall.
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Rules are rarely made by the people affected by the rules.
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Don’t we regularly have the chance to fire these folks every 2, 4, or 6 years?
High unemployment, high crime, and poor economic growth have cost many a politician their job.
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Elections often don’t work that way. If time in office was based purely on similar performance measurements, that was be very different from now, where voting decisions are based on things like popularity, attractiveness, party affiliation, how much they hate the other guy, how patient they are with current results, etc.
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And they often do work that way.
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John Kuhn explained how this is an apples to oranges comparison:
“When politicians go out for re-election, they get to define themselves for voters, sans a state-issued label as to their fitness to serve. This happened recently in Texas, when our governor ran ads touting Texas’ huge budget surpluses, which we discovered shortly after his re-election were actually huge shortfalls. Educators can’t participate in those kind of games when their contracts are up–we have a label that we can’t explain away. If this kind of system truly works to create positive outcomes, why do we not apply it to other public servants?”
Even when politicians are voted out, they use their connections to land a cushy six figure “consulting” job maintaining the system that benefits them and hurts the working class. Being rich and connected means you never have to be accountable.
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TE is right about this.
But TE, waiting that long, like waiting to see if our students have enough measureable progress in one year, may be too late. Too much is at stake. If after one year, the politician has not performed, then his VAM will be calculated and he will stay or go as a result. Just like teachers.
Don’t you know we are facing a crisis, and one cannot afford to wait.
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Pitchforks and guillotines????
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Didn’t the good citizens of Wisconsin and Colorado just attempt to cut the time a bit short? Unsuccessful in Wisconsin, but successful in Colorado?
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Great idea!!!! I am so sure they would be willing to do that right away. Even without testing it out it see if it works. I also think that anyone planning to run for office should have to take and pass as “proficient” the graduation test of the state they are from, or the common core test for high school. If they don’t pass, they cannot run for office. Period!!
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Is there anyway to measure Greed?
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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I’ve been saying this very same thing for years. Yet who would want to represent poverty stricken areas?
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I’d like to see their test score results from when they were in school. Show us your report cards, please.
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I’ve been saying this for the last few years. How about … If unemployment is below (insert reasonable number) then you get a 1% raise or whatever number. As Warren Buffett has said, if everyone had the same medical plans, sent their kids to public schools, had the same 401k/pension plans, etc., the laws would be quite different. I whole-heartedly agree! Plus make ALL take these ludicrous tests every year AND publish their scores! Why shouldn’t politicians be treated the same? They are government employees just like teachers, aren’t they?
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VAM for pols will never work; you’d have to fire at least 75% of them,
Who will then run our country? It would be utter chaos.
And worth every minute of it . . . . . .
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Come on folks, VAM for politicians? I thought that educators would be more sympathetic to the plight of the politicians rather than evoking a VAMMING of them!!
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