In a recent article about the decision by the Los Angeles Board of Education to extend John Deasy’s contract, there was an interesting section:
“Until Tuesday, the district had withheld the Oct. 29 vote total, refusing to release it in response to public-records requests. Officials changed their position, apparently in response to a letter from a lawyer representing The Los Angeles Times. The demand from the newspaper was listed as an agenda item for a closed-door meeting that began at 10 a.m. and lasted about 4.5 hours.
“The district had argued that a personnel evaluation could only be released with the approval of a board majority and the evaluated employee. That had been the case in 2012, when the district announced a positive evaluation by a vote of 6-0.”
If it is or was district policy to release employee evaluations only with the mutual consent of the board “and the evaluated employee,” why does LAUSD release the evaluations of teachers without the consent of the evaluated employee?
Or does the policy apply only to the #1 employee?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
THIS is among the MULTITUDE of reasons why evaluations of ANY employee, let alone teachers, should be abandoned, for it hands the potential to destroy careers over to potentially unscrutible people with agendas that are far different than the betterment of education….
“Evaluations” also make work environments corrosively toxic, encouraging competition for crumbs, rather than cooperation and professionalism…
W. Edwards Deming was right — “judge not, lest ye be judged…”
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If you are an employer and need to reduce your workforce, what criteria should be used?
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What ever the employer (if the owner of the business) decides as long as it comports with current existing laws.
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Well, I can tell you that using reduction in force tactics to RIF every new teacher every year is toxic for the work environment.
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Start with the execs who put a company in that position to begin with. Business cycles have been going on for centuries. Are you saying we can’t figure out how to keep people employed? Sounds like economists are lacking in credibility and understanding.
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If you can pick out the executives that have put the company in that position, you have evaluated their performance, something that the original poster specifically suggested we should never do.
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Accountability is only for the little people. Deasy was effectively appointed by the wealthy, and as we know it is self-evident that the wealthy are better than the rest of us. Who are WE to question the wisdom of the wealthy?
For too long, American subjects have been allowed to forget their place. It is long past time for them to be reminded.
The only flaw in the district’s argument is that Deasy himself should have any say in the release of his evaluation. The man serves at the whim of the his wealthy patrons; it is THEY who should be acknowledged as having the power to allow or deny access to his evaluation records.
Any consternation over this should be chalked up to “growing pains” that are part and parcel of our changing society. In time, American subjects will learn to accept their place.
In time, they will lose the ability to conceive of any other possible way for things to be.
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What a good point, Diane, that the public is not entitled to see the evaluation of any LAUSD employee. However, the superintendent’s fate differed in one important way that makes a part of the process public information. The board–which is a public entity–took a vote in secret.
California has one of the strictest public meetings laws in the country, known as the Brown Act. Just about every line of it has been litigated over the 50+ years of its existence, so there isn’t much room for interpretation. I’m no lawyer, but there was no question that the board was in violation of the law by refusing to disclose the vote of every board member who decided Deasy’s fate. While closed sessions are allowed, the Brown Act is clear: California Code 54957.1 states (a) The legislative body of any local agency shall publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention of every member present.”
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If the test scores are published, they cannot legally be used in teacher evaluations.
Be careful what you wish for!
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How is that so? True in every state? Every district?
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A more interesting question concerns a parent’s access to a teacher’s evaluation and or qualifications.
Is there a rate my teacher site like the rate my professor site?
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There is a “rate my teacher” site. I think it was more popular four or five years ago.
Consider the utility and accuracy of your usual rating website that allows anonymous input, and then add a high proportion of adolescents into the mix.
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It is clear in CA that parents do have access to teacher personnel files when teacher misconduct is at issue (see Marken vs. Santa Monica USD). However, they only have access to the conduct that was investigated. They do not have access to other information in the personnel file.
The CA public does have open access to a teacher’s qualifications. All teacher qualification information can be found on the Commission on Teacher Credentialing site. All someone needs is the first and last name of a teacher/principal. If you were looking for specific scores on tests or their college/HS GPA, then that data is not there (but that is not a qualification for teaching; it is gatekeeper data to get into a teaching credential program).
Currently, CA law exempts teacher or principal evaluations from being made public. If schools/districts keep performance data, then parents do have open access to this–this is why the LA Times can publish the VAM data on LAUSD. Once the data is used for “individual teacher evaluation,” then the information is closed to the public as taxpaying truth teller correctly writes above.
For a look at other states on this topic, see here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2013/05/are_teacher_evaluations_public.html
Most professions in the private and public sector keep employee evaluations closed from the public. Although state rules on this differ, almost all states give all employees a certain degree of privacy when it comes to their evaluations. There are probably several privacy and ethical reasons for this.
Ratemyprofessor.com and ratemyteacher.com do exist. However, since only a few students participate with the evaluation, it is difficult to get anything of value out of them. For instance, I left the teacher profession in ’09. I had fewer than 10 ratings. My wife has fewer than 20 and she is still teaching. While these ratings might give a rough estimate of some form of quality, they are just as likely to give bogus data, too. There are also a certain degree of fake reviews on these sites that affect a teacher’s score. I’d imagine that the level of thought put into an evaluation improves with age, as well.
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Different school districts and states seem to have different policies about informing parents about the teachers their students have been assigned to. In my district there is certainly little outside the discussion between parents.
My spouse only has a little over 20 reviews, the result of small classes. I have close to 70. Some, of course, may be fake for both of us.
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I like to think that there are natural consequences to unjust acts. This is what I think we’ll see in the near future in the Los Angeles area:
Because it is getting difficult to find substitutes in Los Angeles County, there will likely be a teacher shortage soon. I predict Los Angeles Unified will once again be desperate for qualified teachers. Will it be the fault of “the unions?” Or will John Deasy be accountable for his part in making the district even more undesirable than ever for prospective teachers?
Many victims of the Miramonte scandal have not chosen to settle out of court. This means their cases will be tried in a court of law. When this happens, I believe the public will find out these crimes were allowed to continue for years because administrators failed to respond to complaints made by teachers, parents and students. The public will also find out that John Deasy failed to report the perpetrators to the State Commission on Teacher Credentialing, as required by law.
So John Deasy will be “evaluated” in a very public way, and it won’t be for something as minor as test scores. It couldn’t happen to a more “deserving” man. Teachers have already given him an “F.” Soon the general public will as well.
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Won’t they just hire TFAers then?
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They certainly will. Driving out the more standard teachers to make room for the brave new world of TFA-dominated schools is part of the plan.
Of course, should the bottom fall out of TFA, they will be left in shock and gabbling before scuttling away like cockroaches when the light is turned on — “Dah daah daaah… G’BYE!”
No WAY would the current moguls of reform want to stick around if things went South like that.
So, a question — what moves young people to join TFA? Student loan forgiveness? Feathers in their caps to help with grad school admission? A belief that they are doing good? How can these be countered?
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As a middle-income person, I know that even the children of professional people are having a difficult time finding jobs. Many of these young people accept internships or jobs like TFA until something “better” comes along. If the economy improves, I don’t think as many young people will choose TFA, and if they do, they won’t stay long. There are not enough of these people to staff our schools.
On the other hand, if the economy remains depressed, school districts will continue to hire unqualified and inexperienced teachers to staff classrooms. They will continue to try to get rid of expensive senior staff by using fraudulent evaluations and anything else. And yes, teachers will continue to lose salaries, benefits and professional autonomy.
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So thankful to be out of this madness.
An evaluation should be used to improve any person’s performance..not in the Public Square using Stone Throwing Techniques.
Constructive Criticism by your Evaluator was once used as a Positive Force and for Guidance.
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What confuses me is this.. I was always under the understanding in general and over many years of employment that if human resources were contacted by a potential employer (in regards to a former employer), all the HR could do is to say that the candidate was employed and for what duration of time. The potential employee would provide references. So how did it evolve into a total invasion of privacy such that “scores” can now be not only posted, but be part of the public ranking of a teacher? If student test scores are indeed linked to a teacher’s rating then it seems illegal to post this information as you are in effect “posting what in effect is a teacher “recommendation”or lack thereof????
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