Debra E. Curry

A 3rd grade teacher at Brentwood Science in 2007

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 2002-03 through 2008-09 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.

Overall value-added effectiveness

Math effectiveness

English effectiveness

This chart shows where teachers in this effectiveness category fall on a distribution of all teachers’ scores.

Compared with other Los Angeles Unified teachers on the value-added measure of test score improvement, Curry ranked:

Least effective overall.
Less effective than average in math. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 4 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.
Least effective in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 7 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.

Curry's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Brentwood Science, 2007 - 2003

Debra Curry's Response:

This I feel is a very unfair reflection on some of us. This is a second career for me and the hardest but most rewarding job I have ever done. During the years of this study I changed grade levels going from 4th to 3rd. That means learning a new curriculum. The following year I had a student that needed a special day class and was finally expelled from our school that January. That next year I taught 1/2 the year taking a Coordinator position and was out of the classroom from then on. The prior years scores are a better reflection of my teaching abilities as demonstrated by the test scores prior to 2004 and the comments from my former students and their parents.

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.