We all want what is best for our own kids,right? Bill Schechter, retired now after teaching 35 years in Lincoln Sudbury, is an enterprising (as well as an award-winning teacher) member of the board of the Mass Citizens for Public Schools. He sought to find out how teachers are evaluated at Sidwell Friends, a private school in Washington, D.C. where President Obama sends his children, and in the Arlington, Va. public schools where US Secretary of Education Duncan sends his.
Mr. Schechter poses the question:
“Do these excellent schools evaluate or pay teachers on the basis of student standardized test scores? This question is important because the issue of “Pay for Performance” models of teacher evaluation now dominates the intense debate over education reform. Nationally, Secretary Duncan has voiced his support for performance-based merit pay. In Massachusetts, the State Board of Education is going to hold its April public hearing on whether teacher evaluation should be tied to student test scores, and, if so, to what extent.”
Here is the answer he received from an active teacher in each setting.
“We do not tie teacher evaluations to scores in the Arlington public school system.”
— Arlington school district teacher, March 31, 2011
“We don’t tie teacher pay to test scores because we don’t believe them to be a reliable indicator of teacher effectiveness.”
“ Sidwell Friends faculty member, April 1, 2011
Thank you, Mr. Schechter, for passing this along.