Akshara Salini Ertzman

A 5th grade teacher at Broad Avenue 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 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, Ertzman ranked:

More effective than average overall.
Most effective in math. Students of teachers in this category, on average, gained about 11 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.

Ertzman's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Broad Avenue Elementary, 2009, 2006 - 2005

Akshara Ertzman's Response:

Although my rating is high, I disagree with the appropriateness of this report. As a teacher I understand that there are so many factors involved in student test scores, that basing a teacher's rating solely on student test scores is unfair and just plain unprofessional. What do teacher's do with students who miss 90+ days of school? How about students who come to school without anything to eat? Are they expected to be proficient on test taking day? How about students on tracks in year-round schools. My students were expected to come back from a six week vacation and take the Standardized tests a week after they returned. That was unfair to me and to my students who felt the pressure of doing well on this test. In more affluent neighborhoods, children are sent to after school tutoring for which their parents pay for. Ofcourse, they tend to do better on standardized tests. How do my students, who are lucky if mom or dad is home when they get home, compete with those children? I understand that teachers need to be held accountable for our students' learning. However, using only the standardized test scores is not the proper way to judge a teacher. I oppose this report and am very offended by the publishing of this article.

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.