Amy P. Miller
A 5th grade teacher at Park Western Place Elementary in 2010
These graphs show a teacher's "value-added" rating based on his or her students' progress on the California Standards Tests in math and English. The Times’ analysis used all valid student scores available for this teacher from the 2003-04 through 2009-10 academic years. The value-added scores reflect a teacher's effectiveness at raising standardized test scores and, as such, capture only one aspect of a teacher's work.
Math effectiveness
English effectiveness
About this rating
The red lines show The Times’ value-added estimates for this teacher. Miller falls within the “average” category of district teachers in math and within the “more effective than average” category in English. These ratings were calculated based on test scores from 90 students.
Because this is a statistical measure, each score has a degree of uncertainty. The shading represents the range of values within which Miller’s actual effectiveness score is most likely to fall. The score is most likely to be in the center of the shaded area, near the red line, and less likely in the lightly shaded area. Teachers with ratings based on a small number of student test scores will a have wider shaded range.
The beige area shows how the district's 11,500 elementary school teachers are distributed across the categories.
Miller's LAUSD teaching history
Years used for value-added rating. See FAQ for details.
- Park Western Place Elementary, 2010 - 2007
Amy Miller's Response:
As a team teacher, I would like to have access to the data from my other class to compare results with my homeroom, which is what I assume this data represents. Is that possible? Does this data take into account the 3 years I taught 3rd grade as well, or just the year I have taught 5th?
Being a relatively new teacher, I welcome feedback that will help me to adjust my teaching to best fit my students' needs. It is, however, only one data point. The CST seems to be designed to test stamina and question interpretation ability, rather than true reading comprehension. The 5th grade test requires students to stay focused through 7 long reading passages and questions in one testing session. If the test was truly a test of ability, it would not be this long, with questions asked in such obtuse ways. As a result, I have to devote more time than I'd like to helping students learn to decode the questions to have a fair chance against the test makers, rather than being able to focus solely on teaching reading comprehension. Being evaluated by a tool that is not truly testing students' knowledge and abilities is one of the primary frustrations teachers face today.
The Times gave LAUSD elementary school teachers rated in this database the opportunity to preview their value-added evaluations and publicly respond. Some issues raised by teachers may be addressed in the FAQ. Teachers who have not commented may do so by contacting The Times.
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