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NYC does Dallas -- the CEI's at least.
1:36 PM Tue, Jan 22, 2008 | Permalink
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Yesterday's NY Times had a story about the city school's new (and secret) experiment to evaluate teachers based on student test score gains. Hmmm. Where have we heard that before? Anyway, it sounds like NYC wants to do pretty much what DISD is already doing, with one notable difference. NYC will make the evaluations public. Dallas ISD, on the other hand, would rather take them to the grave. Here's the money quote from the NY Times story: “If the only thing we do is make this data available to every person in the city — every teacher, every parent, every principal, and say do with it what you will — that will have been a powerful step forward,” said Chris Cerf, the deputy schools chancellor who is overseeing the project. “If you know as a parent what’s the deal, I think that whole aspect will change behavior.” Our editorial board has weighed in on the privacy question already. It wants disclosure. And our recent blog posting on the topic has some interesting comments, too. It should be noted that NYC is a Broad Foundation favorite son, and DISD looks to it as a model district. Updated entry: Jan. 25, 12:18 p.m.: Check out the responses the NY TImes received after its story ran. |
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Comments
Posted by jean Pierre @ 3:13 PM Tue, Jan 22, 2008
The DISD talks transparency. It should walk it as well. Reveal the CEI.
Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 9:34 PM Tue, Jan 22, 2008
One big difference, in a "so pathetic it is funny" kind of way....
Read the full piece in the NY Times. They are only doing the CEI's on 10% of their teachers, but will not tell them WHICH teachers! Here in Dallas, after telling us they didn't use it on any of us, we now know they do.
Why not release our CEI's? I can justify how I teach and the results I get from it. The CEI's I have had for the last four years prove that the system is inaccurate, arbitrary to the filling of classes and shows that a number does NOT reflect what goes on the classroom.
I would wager that no good teacher would object. Once the public sees things like one teacher who was evaluated on only 14 of 120 students last year, the whole thing would be abandoned as useless.
Posted by SHF @ 8:13 AM Wed, Jan 23, 2008
AND reveal which students missed how many days, which students were truant(and how many times), which students got pregnant and were out on maternity (and how many times), which parents never appeared for a parent conference, etc... blah, blah blah. Most people suggesting that the CEI represents a teacher's ability wouldn't last a day...
Posted by park @ 10:50 AM Wed, Jan 23, 2008
I agree the number days students were absent, the number of truants, and the number of young women who chose pregnancy should be part of the CEI. I also think the number of absences the teacher chooses to take should be public information.
All of this data already feeds into the CEI since missing children aren't in school learning. As a teacher who continually worked on building relationships with parents, I experienced little of the above in a high truancy school.
Posted by shf @ 12:31 AM Thu, Jan 24, 2008
How past tense is this reflection? TAAS or TAKS?
Area Office or Learning Community? Are we agreeing that some LC's still schedule trainings/meetings for content teachers and CILT members during the school day? How does that factor in? Oh I guess a few days won't make a difference if you are "really good". How many students first year in high school ever taking a non-teacher made exam? And how do my CEI's show how great I am with the 6 kids just transferred in this semester to one class, or the other 5 added to my now 24 count sheltered class? I guess sometimes just knowing has to be enough.
I simply wouldn't voluntarily put myself in the position for any tom-dick or harry to pass judgement on the quality of what I do(present tense)with students and parents by looking at a number.
Posted by formerdisdwonk @ 10:26 AM Thu, Jan 24, 2008
Teachers need to understand that CEIs take student abscences and mobility into account when they are computed. That is why, as Diane Birdwell attests, CEIs are based upon "14 out of 120 students." The index very fairly does not include students who transfer in late in the semester, or are continually absent, etc.
Posted by Ray @ 1:02 PM Thu, Jan 24, 2008
I don't think it has been mentioned that some CEI data, especially for many electives teachers, is based on tests written by selected teachers from the subject matter. It's hard to imagine how those teachers' scores would be low since they appear to know what's already on the test.
Posted by Diane Birdwell @ 7:08 AM Fri, Jan 25, 2008
"formerdisdwonk" is right that absences are taken into account, wich is why the numbers of "accountable" students can be so low. Yet, it is the classroom environment of the whole group that affects learning.
You will have students show up every day, who are there just because they are ordered to do so by a truancy judge. They will not, however, do any work! So, those kids show up on my CEI. They are compared to another kid across town who is the same economic level and race, but what if the 'other' kid actually tried to work?
You cannot compare kids. Ask parents. I have three brothers. All would be the same statistically, but they did so differently in school, life, etc...
The tests are are given AFTER, never before learning occurs. the "pre-tests" admin people keep touting are actually tests from the previous year. And how does one exactly measure how much someone "should" have learned?
If a fairer system were devised, there would not be so much distrust.
Posted by lisa billings @ 9:47 AM Thu, Feb 07, 2008
I chair an SBDM Curriculum Committee at an inner city high school. For two years we have been working to lower the impact of the ACP exam because it is a teacher evaluation tool rather than a student evaluation measure, although the district has disavowed that notion. Now, the ACP is attached to the teacher's CEI. Anyone surprised? This end of six weeks exam does not cover curriculum. In fact, the " educators" er, um curriculum administrators are quite proud of that. The ACP is, as the disd wonks like to say " concept fertile". Students can't study for the damn thing, but they are eligible to get hosed by it. Did I mention that students never get to see what they missed on the ACP, or recap where they fell short?
So now, not only are our students getting robbed, so are our teachers. The difference is now that teacher bonuses are tied to the ACP they appreciate the overall unfairness of it,where before they have ducked the issue. The truant problems and drop out wannabee's sucking the air out of classrooms and our school's AYP until their expiration date comes up are keeping real students from getting the best of the public education our property taxes are paying for. And now, their presence in our schools is costing us certified, experienced teachers who will buckle at the prospect of being rated and penalized financially for society's problems. Let me just say it has been my experience that the teachers at our school are exceptional. But they are not wizards ( although some would disagree). We parents don't want to lose these gifted teachers. We can't afford to.If the state spent half as much time not throwing out our experienced teachers as they spend not leaving a chld behind, we'd all be in better shape. It's disgraceful and absurd all around.