Cecilia W. Leung
A 5th grade teacher at Albion Street Elementary in 2009
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. Leung falls within the “less effective than average” category of district teachers in math and within the “less effective than average” category in English. These ratings were calculated based on test scores from 125 students.
Because this is a statistical measure, each score has a degree of uncertainty. The shading represents the range of values within which Leung’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.
Leung's LAUSD teaching history
Years used for value-added rating. See FAQ for details.
- Albion Street Elementary, 2009 - 2005
Cecilia Leung's Response:
After much consideration I finally decided to respond to my VAM. Yes, I feel horrible as a teacher that my students did not score as well on the English Language Arts and Math portions of the CST. And yes, one would think that the fact that I have taught fifth grade for five years consecutively would have made me master teacher at test-taking. However, this is not the case. Have I done a disservice to my students that they did not score Proficient or Advanced? Have I ruined their chances to be identified as GATE so that they may move up along the academic rungs of LAUSD schools? Now that I have been pink slipped and reflecting on my past 8 years of teaching I realize that despite my students' CST scores I have made a difference in their lives. I have implemented a structured PE program and encouraged the whole entire staff to fulfill the minimum required PE instruction. Former students return to show me their bling from 5K, 10K, and marathons. When we no longer had a math coach, I continued to organize Math Olympics at my school. I along with my upper grade colleagues strive to support our staff to teach science starting from the primary grades. I show up to my students' football, basketball, and softball games, cheering them on because I love seeing the smile on their faces when they see a familiar adult rooting for them. I teach visual arts, theatre, and dance because it is important even though the district has now cut down the elementary arts program down to 13 teachers for the upcoming school year. I share my experience and expertise in culinary arts by cooking healthy snacks and meals with my students and teach them how to analyze what they eat. Some of my former students tell me they still have the cookbook we made together and ask if we still cook in class. In past years, my colleagues and I met with GATE students during lunch and afterschool to create student-produced monthly newspaper and yearbook. I could go on and on...I am not only my students' teacher, but also mother, sister, counselor, nurse, etc. but most importantly their listener who will respond accordingly and hope to guide them along their path of success. It saddens me that so many people choose to represent a teacher or a student with a test score. What ever happened to the human quality of teaching?
The state and value of education in our country has made the (involuntary) end of my service to LAUSD bittersweet.
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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