Even though data is critical to measure what students learned, the same can be said for teachers. In my experience as an elementary teacher, I have measured students' performance using other tools of evaluation as portfolios, interviews, constructive responses, and research projects that are often overlooked and undermined by State Tests. In comparison,
teachers, like students, should be evaluated not on what a Standardized Assessment might state, but what the actual students and parents say about their teacher. My rapport with parents is transparent and effective, once my goals and objectives are shared. In turn, my evaluation should be based on what the data states, but also on what my students have learned through out the year. I have been assigned to some of the "toughest" kids in South L.A, and the end of the year, they have demonstrated growth academically and socially.In conclusion, I may somewhat disagree with my Overall Performance of Average, becuase I see myself as a teacher that is implementing the latest research based strategies to teach kids and I have continued my education by earning a Master's Degree in Reading Specialization. I have lead Professional Development workshops as a Grade Level Chair and I have been an exemplarary teacher for my colleagues. When in doubt, take a look at last year's data regarding my students to see if I am an "Average" teacher, and ask my students, "What do you think of Mr. Soria?" Look at the 2010 data of my 4th graders at Hillside ES, and verify if I am an "Average" teacher!!!! Thank you for your time and cooperation.

As a long time educator I am delighted that the Times has forced the issue of teacher evaluation. Once a teacher gets tenure it is very difficult to force that person to leave teaching. However I am concerned that individual teachers are named and will be judged by this very narrow criteria. It would have been better to report privately to teachers and principals and provide appropriate assistance and then review to see if improvement was made. This rush to make very private information public will only increase the friction between parents and schools. Children, their guardians, and school staffs MUST work together to provide the best possible climate for student learning. Your methods, though well intentioned, are counterproductive to the results you wish to achieve. Students must always come first!
Sincerely,
Paula Shuman
Nationally Board Certified (retired)

Hi,

I cannot believe the misconception the LA times has of teachers. I agree as in any profession there are some teachers who need help or have to leave. I think the system needs revamping. However to humiliate teachers by publishing their ratings(by the way mine was good) is a disgrace. If you are not in education you have absolutely no business judging or disclosing information in such a public way. I do believe parents could be included if the principals choose to share that info. Teachers should be held in high esteem. This is not professional on your end. You ssy you want to find out the good teachers. I don't think so. I think you want to show the public that our school system is failing because of teachers. NOT SO. Calif standards are so high that it is often impossible to meet them. You need to interview all kinds of teachers. Get their opinions. Why the LA Times chose to take this route is beyond me. Most teachers work VERY hard.I have already spent a week(no pay) setting up my room.We spend lots of our own money.Most of all we love children,that is why we do what we do. We teach the whole child not just how to take a test. I challenge any of you reporters to take one of the standarized test cold. I would be curious to see your score. It breaks my heart for all of us teachers out there to be humiliated by what you are doing. You need to start at the top.People who run the school systems,that should be your target.I could go on forver but I won't

I am very happy to see that I am " most effective" in English and somewhat happy to see that I am "more effective" in Math. I must say, however, that I think this way of evaluating teachers is very unfair. There are so many factors that are involved in a child's CST score. These are not examined in the Value Added Measure of a teacher. How many of the children who score poorly on the test (1.) have problems at home, ( 2.) are unmotivated to do well , (3.) are bad test takers, (4.) should be in a special ed class but their IEP was mixed up by a person who works in the office and instead was given an SST (5.) transferred to another school 6 months prior to the CST but showed up on my class list anyway and scored below basic? All six of these factors affected my overall rating and luckily my overall scores were good enough that I won't be "blacklisted" in The Los Angeles Times on Sunday (this year anyway).
I would also like to add that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who are the good teachers and who are the bad teachers. I agree that bad teachers should not be allowed to stay in the classroom. However, there are so many ways to judge an ineffective classroom teacher. t I feel too much pressure is being placed upon the teacher to have his/her students to do well on the CST. This I believe will cause other problems such as teaching to the test or teachers taking other measures to assure that their students score well on these standardized tests.
Lastly, I would like to say maybe instead of listing the teachers whose children did poorly, let's list the names of the parents whose children did poorly!!!!! Let's start making parents accountable for their children's success as well as the teachers.
A.B.M.

Interesting. I am a Language Arts/Technology Teacher, and I've been out of the classroom since 2007.

Thanks for this!!!!!

"Value Added" assumes that CST scores are a valuable measure of student learning. Most educational professionals would question this. Why would you use one small measure, over which I have little control, to publicly RATE and LABEL my effectiveness as a teacher? Whose assumption is it that a child's test scores will continually go up every year? This is not statistically possible. If a child scores 95% in second grade how can his scores keep going up? If they stay the same or go slightly lower in successive years, is every successive teacher labeled ineffective? How do you get children to care about scoring well on tests which they have no vested interest in. Their grades nor advancement to the next grade level do not depend upon their doing well on the CST. Students and teachers do not even see the results until the following school year. Until you can give children a reason to care about doing their best on these tests, how can you hold teachers accountable for their performance? I would like to see the raw data you used, including student names, to compute my Math Score ranking because it conflicts with the data I see every year which shows that my students have continually scored higher in math than language arts. Although you preface your rankings by stating that this is one aspect of a teachers work you know that people will make judgements based on your LABELS. This is irresponsible journalism.

Guilty as charged. I am proud to be "less effective" than some of my peers because I chose to teach to the emotional and academic needs of my students. In the future it seems I am being asked to put my public image first and simply teach to the test. How sad for all our children.

Students need to feel the inspiration and know that someone believes in their potential. I know because I have been inspired by the greatest teacher of all... my mother.

If teachers are to be held accountable for value-added scores then it seems fair that this measure also becomes a component of principal's evaluations. Excellent or even good leaders can make a huge difference in staff morale and overall student achievement!