A new LA Times analysis of teacher effectiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District is causing a stir. The study is based on 7 years of standardized test scores in math and English – comparing students to their own prior performance. Teachers say that basing instructor performance on standardized test results ignores other critical factors. But some students are being left behind – and the study suggests that some students get poorly performing teachers year after year. Parents can work to get their kids into better performing schools, but fate determines the quality of their teachers. Is the evaluation system broken? Can standardized testing be used to measure teacher performance?
Jason Felch, LA Times reporter and coauthor of Sunday’s Times article about LAUSD teacher performance
A.J. Duffy, President, UTLA - United Teachers Los Angeles