From Fairtest:
The primary goal of teacher evaluation should be to provide assistance where needed, and to recognize talented teachers who can play a leading role among their peers. Where necessary, such a system should play a role in removing teachers who are not effective and do not improve despite the assistance. We were encouraged by the values that informed the work of the Massachusetts Task Force Report on the Evaluation of Teachers and Administrators…
However, the Department’s proposal is fundamentally inconsistent with these values. It threatens to intensify the negative impact of a system already too focused on MCAS tests. Most importantly, it fails to create a system that incorporates comprehensive and multifaceted measures of learning and well being among our schoolchildren without causing harmful collateral damage.