Should teacher evaluation data be made public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should your evaluation be made public?

Fair question. But I'm an editor of a rather obscure trade journal, the public has no real need to know about my competence.

Let's say you and I are both surgeons at a publicly financed hospital. According to our evaluations, you have world-class skills and a perfect success record. I am barely competent. Don't patients have a right to choose between us based on that information?

Should all of your prior evaluations be made available to prospective employers? After all, don't employers have the right to know the competence of the people they're considering hiring?

Well, employers usually put prospects through a rigorous vetting process. I don't have that option with my kid's 4th grade teacher.

No, just like your employer's clients don't get to put you through a process like that. The district does put teachers through a vetting process.

I do like this analogy. But I guess the big question in a public school is: Is the parent/taxpayer the ultimate "employer"? I know, that's a Pandora's Box for every public sector job. I don't know the answer, I'm just thinking things out loud.

[Anonymous]

So much of student achievement has to do with parents pushing them, especially in FCPS. The teachers end up looking like geniuses, but the parents are the ones sending their kids to Kumon and hiring private tutors. I knew a science teacher who taught in FCPS. He looked like a genius b/c his students did so well. He moved to a rural area and, boom! Suddenly, his students were flunking the tests and dropping out. What changed? Was it is his style of teaching? Nope. It was socio-economic background and how much less the parents pushed their kids and the expectations that they placed upon them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do like this analogy. But I guess the big question in a public school is: Is the parent/taxpayer the ultimate "employer"? I know, that's a Pandora's Box for every public sector job. I don't know the answer, I'm just thinking things out loud.

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should your evaluation be made public?

Fair question. But I'm an editor of a rather obscure trade journal, the public has no real need to know about my competence.

Let's say you and I are both surgeons at a publicly financed hospital. According to our evaluations, you have world-class skills and a perfect success record. I am barely competent. Don't patients have a right to choose between us based on that information?

Should all of your prior evaluations be made available to prospective employers? After all, don't employers have the right to know the competence of the people they're considering hiring?

Well, employers usually put prospects through a rigorous vetting process. I don't have that option with my kid's 4th grade teacher.

No, just like your employer's clients don't get to put you through a process like that. The district does put teachers through a vetting process.

I do like this analogy. But I guess the big question in a public school is: Is the parent/taxpayer the ultimate "employer"? I know, that's a Pandora's Box for every public sector job. I don't know the answer, I'm just thinking things out loud.

So, if I teach in MCPS, then all 1 million people here are equally my boss. Which means that you, as a parent, should only be able to control 1 millionth of my time? That's about .7 seconds. Sorry, no more email answering, or photocopying an extra copy of the homework sheet you lost. Those things take too long.

[Anonymous]

So much of student achievement has to do with parents pushing them, especially in FCPS. The teachers end up looking like geniuses, but the parents are the ones sending their kids to Kumon and hiring private tutors. I knew a science teacher who taught in FCPS. He looked like a genius b/c his students did so well. He moved to a rural area and, boom! Suddenly, his students were flunking the tests and dropping out. What changed? Was it is his style of teaching? Nope. It was socio-economic background and how much less the parents pushed their kids and the expectations that they placed upon them.

This can even happen in the same school. Taught for 12 years. Year seven, I thought I had finally found all the answers. I had a magical class. The next year, I had the class from hell.

[Anonymous]

This all assumes that the "evaluation system" is totally objective and beyond reproach.

We all know that is true . . . NOT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This all assumes that the "evaluation system" is totally objective and beyond reproach.

We all know that is true . . . NOT.

OP here. I think this is where I eventually wind up after thinking it all through. It IS a flawed system requiring so many caveats. You can not expect the general public to reliably apply those caveats when looking at the data, so it simply would not be fair to the teachers.

Now it will be interesting to see what the courts decide.

[Anonymous]

For any of you that have profiles on linkedin, this is similar to the endorsement process where you list skillsets down and others can etiher endorse you or not. Recruiters will look at those kinds of things to get an idea of your credibility within the community. Also, doctors aso have a rating system. Bottom line, people want quality. I don't know about making the evals public, but as a parent, it would be useful to read reviews about a particular teache or maybe something like an online endorsement for teachers like they do on linkedin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much of student achievement has to do with parents pushing them, especially in FCPS. The teachers end up looking like geniuses, but the parents are the ones sending their kids to Kumon and hiring private tutors. I knew a science teacher who taught in FCPS. He looked like a genius b/c his students did so well. He moved to a rural area and, boom! Suddenly, his students were flunking the tests and dropping out. What changed? Was it is his style of teaching? Nope. It was socio-economic background and how much less the parents pushed their kids and the expectations that they placed upon them.

I somewhat agree here. The best formula here is a cobined effort between the teachers and the parents. It is absurd to think that one teacher alone in a class of 18-25 kids is going to make a huge positive impact on all the students. For those parents that are of the non-participating nature, maybe miracles can happen for your buttercup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For any of you that have profiles on linkedin, this is similar to the endorsement process where you list skillsets down and others can etiher endorse you or not. Recruiters will look at those kinds of things to get an idea of your credibility within the community. Also, doctors aso have a rating system. Bottom line, people want quality. I don't know about making the evals public, but as a parent, it would be useful to read reviews about a particular teache or maybe something like an online endorsement for teachers like they do on linkedin.

Anyone who goes by LinkedIn endorsements is a fool unless they come with very detailed narratives (which is rare). I have an uncle with a different last name (so you wouldn't know he's a relation) who's endorsed me for practically every legal skill there is, but has no clue what kind of law I practice. I have a ton of endorsements in various areas, but most of them are similarly worthless.

[Anonymous]

For any of you that have profiles on linkedin, this is similar to the endorsement process where you list skillsets down and others can etiher endorse you or not. Recruiters will look at those kinds of things to get an idea of your credibility within the community. Also, doctors aso have a rating system. Bottom line, people want quality. I don't know about making the evals public, but as a parent, it would be useful to read reviews about a particular teache or maybe something like an online endorsement for teachers like they do on linkedin.

I guess you've never heard of ratemyteacher.com ?? You can take those reviews with a grain of salt as well.

[Anonymous]

yes absolutely, or at least a rolled up overview and know if the teacher is doing poorly, transparency is important for publicly funded positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For any of you that have profiles on linkedin, this is similar to the endorsement process where you list skillsets down and others can etiher endorse you or not. Recruiters will look at those kinds of things to get an idea of your credibility within the community. Also, doctors aso have a rating system. Bottom line, people want quality. I don't know about making the evals public, but as a parent, it would be useful to read reviews about a particular teache or maybe something like an online endorsement for teachers like they do on linkedin.

I guess you've never heard of ratemyteacher.com ?? You can take those reviews with a grain of salt as well.

I have heard of that site, but it's not that widely used. Thank you for your input.

[Anonymous]

Okay. Let's have the teacher put your child through a vetting process to include:
behavior
study skills
IQ
etc.

That's called private school. Public school, you get what you get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Okay. Let's have the teacher put your child through a vetting process to include:
behavior
study skills
IQ
etc.

That's called private school. Public school, you get what you get.

(Np here) and so do you I guess. The teacher, in many cases, is as good as the class of students he or she has that year. Yes, some will stand out above the rest, and so will some students. You don't get to place all of the blame on the individual teacher if you're unhappy with your students progress one year. Coincidentally I am going through this exact thing right now. My child isn't doing great, and as easy as it would be to blame the teacher (who I am honestly NOT AT ALL impressed with) she's not entirely responsible for his academic success. Would it be easier for me if he had a great teacher this year, probably, but it wouldn't fix everything. I'm just doing everything I can as his parent to get him through the rest of this year and hope to get a better teacher/classroom of students next year. But if not, I will not expect to place all the blame on the teacher.

Oh, and do I think teacher evaluations should be made public? Maybe the teachers who are in the union should, but those who don't join the union should have the option to make it public only if they choose to.