Tying teacher evaluations to student achievement could help Tennessee win a massive Race to the Top grant from the federal government, but some are concerned about the potential ramifications.
In theory, the idea of using student data in teacher evaluations is simple: if an educator does a good job, it will show up in tests. Barbara Ide says that’s a reasonable assumption in the average classroom. She’s the principal at Thurgood Marshall Middle School.
But what happens to teachers with more challenging assignments? Ide worries about the ramifications if those student’s teachers aren’t judged fairly.
“Would it ever be turned back on me that I torpedoed a teacher by giving them kids that I didn’t think would grow quickly enough or go far enough in a year?”
Ide is also concerned that the state develop an equitable means of evaluating teachers whose grade level or subject area isn’t one that’scurrently tested.
The bill moving through the state legislature says that a, quote, “comparable measure of student growth” can be used in evaluations when student test data is not available, but leaves it to a 15-member committee to determine what those measures should be.
Daniel Potter also contributed to this report.
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