Should teacher evaluation data be made public?

[Anonymous]

Interesting lawsuit brewing in Loudoun County:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parent-suing-state-officials-to-make-teacher-evaluation-data-public/2015/03/15/9b441a58-c98f-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

Not sure where I fall on this yet. On the one hand, employees (teachers) should have some basic right to privacy. On the other hand, they are public employees whose job is teaching our kids. I know as parents we would all like to have access to this data, but I'm curious to hear what lawyers and armchair lawyers think of the legal aspects of this case.

[Anonymous]

I think one potential unintended effect is it could compromise the evaluation process. That is, evaluators might be less candid in their assessments if they know that parents will be seeing them.

[Anonymous]

Should your evaluation be made public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting lawsuit brewing in Loudoun County:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parent-suing-state-officials-to-make-teacher-evaluation-data-public/2015/03/15/9b441a58-c98f-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

Not sure where I fall on this yet. On the one hand, employees (teachers) should have some basic right to privacy. On the other hand, they are public employees whose job is teaching our kids. I know as parents we would all like to have access to this data, but I'm curious to hear what lawyers and armchair lawyers think of the legal aspects of this case.

What would you do with that data if you didn't like what you read about your child's teacher? It's not like you can make the school move your child to another class.

[Anonymous]

Will making teacher evaluations public encourage or discourage highly-qualified people from going into teaching?

Also: I am a public employee (not a teacher). My evaluations are not public.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will making teacher evaluations public encourage or discourage highly-qualified people from going into teaching?

Also: I am a public employee (not a teacher). My evaluations are not public.

This is America. We say we value education, but then we show rampant disrespect to teachers and basically do everything possible to ensure that highly-qualified people won't go into education.

[Anonymous]

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?

What about surgeons at private hospitals? Don't patients have a right to choose at private hospitals, too?

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

NP here...
The question is... WHO is determining that one has world-class skills and the other is barely competent? Who is doing the evaluations?
If you are using ONLY “survival” statistics or other such information, they can be deceptive. Some doctors may have better stats in terms of patient recovery because the patients they treat are healthier to begin with. If you are using less objective evaluation data, that can be deceptive as well.

This is the issue with evaluating teachers. If we only use achievement data, some teachers teach in schools where students will learn DESPITE the teacher because of their family backgrounds, whereas other teachers may do an incredible job, but their achievement scores are not as good because they are working with students who have learning problems or who come from poverty. And, if we rely on the evaluation of a principal or other supervisor, those are less objective.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

That seems fair to me. If parents want to treat teachers as their own employees, then teachers should be able to choose whether they want to work for certain families, just like anyone else gets to choose whether they want to work for a particular employer or find someone else.

[Anonymous]

You just can't strictly compare how a student does from year to year. There are so many variables, such as the kids was ill while taking the test, maybe his family was going through a traumatic situation, maybe the test got harder (which has happened several times with the SOLs).