Helen Steinmetz

A 3rd grade teacher at Carthay Center 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, Steinmetz ranked:

Most effective 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.
Most effective in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, gained about 7 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.

Steinmetz's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Carthay Center Elementary, 2009 - 2003

Helen Steinmetz's Response:

I fear that the emphasis on test scores will encourage more teaching to the test instead of the much more important skills such as critical thinking in both Math and Language Arts.
It will encourage a quantity over quality approach to teaching that adds no value whatsoever to student achievement.

This data would have been put to better use if it were not made public. It demeans our profession and the teachers who try their utmost to do a difficult job.What scores don't tell is the complete story of what goes into making an effective teacher, and it is so much more than a score on a test.

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.