Brenda Kay Royer

A 4th grade teacher at Tarzana Elementary 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, Royer ranked:

Least effective 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.
Less effective than average in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 3 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.

Royer's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Tarzana Elementary, 2007 - 2006
Blythe Street Elementary, 2004

Brenda Royer's Response:

I have not been in the same grade or same classroom two years in a row since I began teaching. That has made it hard to have any continuity in my instruction. I am still a relatively new teacher and I have done what I have been trained to do to the best of my ability. I have spent this whole summer taking Best Practices classes. It is my hope that my scores and the scores of my students will improve.
It kills me that the whole "score" is based on one test. You don't take anything else into consideration. You don't take into account that the state of California has moved curriculum that used to be in middle school and even high school down to elementary school. You don't take into account that the standards we are required to teach are NOT developmently appropriate for elementqry school as shown by all the latest brain / learning research.

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.