This score is a number it is not me as a teacher or my students as learners. We are much more that this. I am very sorry my employer has not instituted better ways of assessing their teachers and the LA Times had to do it in this impersonal and one-sided fashion. Visit my classroom any time and then assess my effectiveness as a teacher and my students as learners. This is tremendously painful for those who care the most.

I am glad to see that I am in the "most effective" range. I wish I could have had all of my students make drastic gains. That is why we keep working hard year in and year out.

As stated in my letter to your editor............test scores reflect a PARTICULAR group of students that are 'given' to each teacher for a particular academic area. Each student group is clustered in one class as Intensive-below grade level, this includes English learning students, students in the
Resource Program, and students being mainstreamed from Special Ed classrooms OR students determined to be on grade level OR students determined to be above grade level. Although we hope that students in all groups will improve, it is unrealistic to think that students in the Intensive group will show the same progress as those students in the Advanced group. I have taught for 34 years at the same school....I have seen such reports many times and this LA Times study is another example of just looking at data and ignoring numerous additional pertinent facts that effect how individual students will perform on tests. I'd like to see the Times publish the number of senior/experienced teachers that have resigned early due to pay-cuts, lack of respect,lack of appreciation, unreasonable work loads to be done at home and so on. In all honesty, it is the parents at my school that have supplied me with the encouragement and support to continue in this profession in the worst economic times for LAUSD and Los Angeles.

These results reflect my students performance during my first five years of teaching in LAUSD starting in 2003. What I wish to share and what this value added survey neglects to measure are the individual results of how well my fourth graders performed specifically in 2009 and 2010. If we were evaluated by the last two years or hard work and dedication, my students achievement would exceed the most effective category. My philosophy is to make the classroom fun and inspire my students to read and learn. Currently, I am working on a Masters Degree in the Language Arts with an emphasis in Reading Instruction. In addition, I am completing a Supplementary Authorization in Math.

Educated individuals will understand that issues in education are much more complex than a scaled test score. They will understand all of the elements effecting education and realize that our students and educators are much more than just a number.

While I am certainly happy to see where I fall, I don't think much of this way of measuring effectiveness of teachers. It is using only one test, first of all, and it has been done by a newspaper, rather than a non-partisan company who specializes in data collection and analysis. I don't buy this as an accurate measure of me as a whole teacher any more than I buy the CST being a measure of a student as a whole student. But hey, thanks....it was at least nice to see that what my colleagues and I already knew about me professionally, could be supported by this analysis. It beats a sharp stick in the eye. :)

I was hired in 2000 on an emergency credential and then become fully credentialed three years later. As a new teacher, you are juggled between grade levels since you have the least seniority. In 2005 and again in 2007, I was on two maternity leaves and did not get to complete the year with my students. I wish your system would measure progress on a yearly basis also, rather than an average of 9 years since it could provide a smaller snapshot of effectiveness and account for some of the circumstances that occurred in that particular year, such as maternity leaves, being juggled between grade levels, or acquiring more professional growth, such as a teaching credential in my case. If your system could measure progress in one year (2009), or even in the last two years (2008-2010), you would see I am in your "most effective" range since I have increased the scores of at least 85% of my students. Now, with more seniority, I am able to stay in the same grade level and grow professionally every year. Seeing that I am rated as an "average" teacher with your system offends me since my passion for teaching drives me to go above and beyond everyday to lead my students to success academically. I never take the privilege of challenging and teaching my students for granted. I instill a sense of moral and social responsibility so that they will always stay on the course of making their dream come true. I ignite fires in them so that they do not perform to get the high score for me but for their future. I genuinely care and respect all of my students to set examples of how to treat individuals and always serve as a model of how to live your best life. These are not qualities of an "average" teacher. I challenge you to measure my scores, the most recent in 2010, to give the most accurate up to date analysis of my performance and you will see I am not an "average" teacher, but a teacher who is the "most effective" in doing her job every day.

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary new material, but the warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.--Carl Jung

Teachers and districts should include test scores as PART of their evaluation and reflection, however there is so much more than that! The LA Times article and Jason Felch present the information as THE sole process by using a percentage to label each teacher as simply ineffective or effective, which is very misleading to the public, and unfair to the teachers, students, and parents.
As a teacher, I would like my effectiveness to be based more on instilling the love of learning the children possess and the overall positive contributions they eventually make in society.
I see my job as teaching young people to think and become productive members of this world, rather than simply, a number.

In my 4th grade 2009-2010 class CST scores for English Language Arts increased considerably.
18 out of 24 students increased a level while only 1 out of 24 dropped a level. The remainder of students stayed at the same level.In math 6 increased while 7 decreased. The balance of students remained the same in math. So if you want to evaluate scores these are unusually good especially in Language Arts. Unfortunately they are not reflected in the data presented.

I am very proud this accomplishment however it is only one aspect of my overall abilities as a teacher for which I am also confident. I will be entering my seventh year as a teacher for LAUSD and I will continue to do the best job I can utilizing the best resources I can to assure effective teaching practices. I would like to assure any parents who might be reading this of my professional commitment.

I can't close this comment without stating how horribly stressful and unfair I feel this experience has been for me.

Sincerely,
Andrea Johnson

I think that solely rating a teacher based on student test scores can be misleading. For example, my students this past year all previously scored proficient and advanced in both math and language arts. My job was to keep the advanced students at advanced and maintain or improve the proficient students. If I was able to do so, I would show no "value added" and be determined to be less effective.
Also, for our mostly latino students, it IS a matter of doing a lot of test prep if we want this population of students to test well. As a product of LAUSD, this certainly was not what my education was based on. If we want well educated students who are able to test well, then we need to improve conditions for these students and their families outside of the school setting. If all we care about is testing well, we may as well just teach 6 hours of test prep each day.