James Kristophe Ober

A 5th grade teacher at One Hundred Twenty-Second 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, Ober 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.

Ober's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

One Hundred Twenty-Second Street Elementary, 2009 - 2005
Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary, 2003

James Ober's Response:

I was not supprised to see that my ranking was high. The big problem that I have is that these numbers do not take into account the human factors impact test performance outcomes. Example: A student was prepared to take the CST, but days before the test the student lost a very important person in their life. The student was emotionally distraught during the test. The student did not perform up to their potential. Should I as a teacher be downgraded because of that? There are other examples where the human factor can effect scores. When looking at the numbers, you are not taking into account other factors that can cause a students scores to rise or fall. The students are only numbers. I would hate to be known only as a number and not a human being.

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.