Sherry Lynne Ferber

A 4th grade teacher at Woodlake Avenue 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, Ferber ranked:

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.
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.

Ferber's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Woodlake Avenue Elementary, 2009 - 2003

Sherry Ferber's Response:

There are so many measures of a child's progress over a period of a year.....many students arrive far below basic, so for them to progress a few points, may represent a more significant gain than meets the eye. I personally enjoy working with children who may be facing challenges, be they academic or behavioral.....I have had many successes with just such children resulting in improved work production in the classroom, healthier social relationships, including improvement in behavior at school outside the classroom. We need to be very careful about framing the image we have,of the teacher AND the student, in such a narrow minded manner.....we risk the loss of the panoramic view that is necessary to really see the whole picture. I am quite surprised to see the results reported here since every year that I have received the District report card, my classes have been reported to me as above the District and the State as well.

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.