Lizeth Maria Bendana
A 4th grade teacher at Middleton Street Elementary in 2006
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.
Compared with other Los Angeles Unified teachers on the value-added measure of test score improvement, Bendana ranked:
- Less effective than average overall.
- Least effective in math. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 10 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.
- Average in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, did not gain or lose significantly on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.
Bendana's LAUSD teaching history
2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years
- Middleton Street Elementary, 2006 - 2003
Lizeth Bendana's Response:
As a teacher you are always reflecting and fine tuning your craft and data is one way to identify areas where I can improve as an educator. I hope that others will view the data as a tool for improvement not a final judgment on any one teacher’s true effectiveness.
The data mirrors my own self reflection upon my test scores over the years. Math has always been a challenge to teach, especially strategies that make the math language of the of the test more accessible to my students. It is for this reason that I have spent the past year focusing on professional development for math and science with an emphasis on making the language of these subjects more accessible to English learners. It will be interesting to see if more meaningful professional development will increase my "value-added score".
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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