Virginia Tura

A 4th grade teacher at Grand View Boulevard 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, Tura ranked:

Least effective overall.
Least effective in math. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 10 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.
Least effective in English. Students of teachers in this category, on average, lost about 7 percentile points on the California Standards Test compared with other students at their grade level.

Tura's LAUSD teaching history

2002-03 through 2008-09 academic years

Grand View Boulevard Elementary, 2009 - 2005

Virginia Tura's Response:

I am very surprised by my results and remain dedicated to my profession. I want the best for my students and work very hard on their behalf. I don’t know that linking teacher evaluation to only one factor (standardized testing) is the best way to go about judging a teacher’s effectiveness. It would be like issuing student report cards based on one 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.