Patricia Louise Morales

A 5th grade teacher at Ricardo Lizarraga 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, Morales ranked:

Average overall.
Average in math. 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.
More effective than average in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, gained about 2 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.

Morales' LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Ricardo Lizarraga Elementary, 2009 - 2006
Hoover Street Elementary, 2005 - 2003

Patricia Morales's Response:

I have always felt I was better at teaching English Language Arts than Math so this confirms it. I appreciate seeing my rating because it does give me an assessment of some sorts on how my students perform. I also see it as an indicator, again of some sorts, of how effective I am or am not. This motivates me to work harder.

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.