Brian Thomas Reeves

A 3rd grade teacher at Liggett Street 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, Reeves ranked:

Less effective than average overall.
Less effective than average in math. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 4 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.

Reeves' LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Liggett Street Elementary, 2009 - 2004

Brian Reeves's Response:

The Times' comments on teacher effectiveness, to the extent that they are meaningful, will be helpful to us. However, I urge the Times to place detailed focus on the significant impact which special, "outlier" students have on our classrooms. Special students include students with identified learning disabilities, students in migrant worker families who often lack adequate nutrition and stability, and students raised from birth in homes where absolutely no academic English is spoken. As a designated bilingual teacher, I'm fortunate to teach students in these categories almost exclusively. They are wonderful learners, but they learn in different ways and at very different rates than average students. As a responsible community member, the Times must carefully consider how the presence of very significant numbers of special students, with learning traits lying on the very edges of the "bell-shaped curve" impact our published teacher ratings. Thank you.

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.