The craze for public sharing of teacher performance also caught fire in L.A. recently and, as a former public school teacher, I think this was inevitable, but also a bit ridiculous. So many want to hold teachers responsible if a student isn't doing well? There's no question that what the teacher does in the classroom is important. But there are so many other factors that dictate a student's success in school i.e. socio-economic level, location, culture, parental achievement, family and - oh God, can it be? - the student himself! I feel sorry for NYC teachers that took on positions in particularly tough neighborhoods. What's their reward? A slap in the face!

The elephant in the room is the student. All too many students are unwilling to do what they need to do, but we still blame the teacher. Madness!

I'm not a NYC school teacher.

The elephant in the room is, indeed, the student. The elephant at the door is the parent. When I was a child and brought home a bad report card...I could have screamed till blue in the face that my poor results was the teacher's fault. My parents didn't buy that back then and parents shouldn't buy it now. Education issues will not be solved until all sides realise they are part of the problem. Perhaps if parents took a more active part in their children's learning things would improve. Computer games, television and the internet are not part of active parenting...they are little more than a cheap and dysfunctional child minding service. Work is important but so is spending quality time with your children and that doesn't mean sitting in front of the television watching mindless junk. Parenting is active not passive.

I've made a cursory look at these data and conclude it is nonsense, and an unnecessary dragging of teachers through the mud. One example - the SAME teacher at one grade level scores a 7 in English and at another grade level a 63 in English. I have to assume that in one grade she does not know her craft at all yet when she walks into her other grade english class she's well above average and acuires skill at the door. These are either two people (not) or these data is so badly biased with systematics that it is worthless. There are multiple tests that can be performed that indicate this is badly flawed analysis and therefore a stunning disgrace to education.

The previous comments cover much of the valid criticism of publication of these test scores. I am a retired teacher administrator and professor and have spent my 50 years in public/private schools. It does shock me that this great hue and cry for "value added accountability" exists in a nation where the economy is brought to near collapse by the results of reckless risks taken by investors, banks, etc. The hypocrisy of jumping on teacher's lack of ability to "value add" is so sad it is wildly funny. Guess we need a test score for the financial value of derivatives.

I see where we're heading-- Teacher free/on-line schools (thanks to Bill Gates, a college drop-out),privite schools (for the 1%), home schooling. Want a school; pay for it 30-40--grand a year. Is this a system?

I just retired as a high school teacher and these days I substitute all over the district. I am seeing the students' unwilling to learn and spending more time in disrupting the classroom. it is sad that teacher's are held responsible for the lack of discipline at home and no regard for education;

I actually reviewed the TDR for my school. What I find the MOST interesting is that I had the highest scoring class in the fourth grade for both ELA and MATH.... yet...I scored BELOW all the teachers on my grade for ELA. I also find interesting that one of the teachers scored higher than I did... YET... her class was the lowest in achievement in the fourth grade. When I further went to look at several of the numbers... I realized that I had a class full of level 3 and 4's from the previous year AND when the test changed my students maintained their levels and many of the other teachers the levels had dropped YET... I scored below my peers. Then I noticed that there were teachers that taught together and the scores were not separated for those teachers yet I know that one of the teachers are not effective.... Is it flawed.... ? ABSOLUTELY!

Last year I had three ninth grade biology classes in which around 50% of the students failed, the year before that the failure rate was 33% , this year its 25%. I work to improve my curriculum and my skills every year but essentially its the same program - so what is the major variable? Yep - its the students.
More evidence? The three Bio classes I teach this year have widely differing grade distributions too - in one class 35% of the kids are failing, in another its 18%. Whats the variable this time? It's still the kids!
I teach a class accessible to all - my evidence? - kids who work hard and engage in the class often get A's. Its not rocket science.
All I do everyday is open the achievement gap. Kids who try and work hard get further ahead, those who are not engaged fall further behind. All this talk about "we need good teachers" if fine - what if you have good teachers? There are MANY good teachers out there and there are many kids not engaged in school. Can schools and teacher improve, sure - but the money and resources are not provided, we are not empowered by our districts to make changes that could have impact and the improvements we do have control over often have little impact on kids who are not engaged. The big elephant in the living room is a society with a philosophy of growth and consumerism whose values are often in direct opposition to the values being taught in school. We have many parents who found it really easy to have kids but find it very hard to parent them.
How about we let those kids who are not engaged in school leave at age 16 and give them a credit voucher for two years of free education at a local community college when they figure out education really is the solution? Allows teachers to focus on those kids who truly want to be there and allows those who are not motivated to check out "the real world". At least when they come back they are likely to be more mature and more motivated.

Teachers will respond to this fraud with fraud of their own: they will let students pass who don't deserve it. And there's that downward spiral again.
Then we'll have an incredibly divided system where only the rich get a proper education, the rest just takes it easy. And they'll appease us with the occasional charity effort (ooh look at the rich white idealists, 'sacrificing' themselves in an inner-city neighborhood), which wouldn't be necessary if the rich paid their taxes.

Last year I had three ninth grade biology classes in which around 50% of the students failed, the year before that the failure rate was 33% , this year its 25%. I work to improve my curriculum and my skills every year but essentially its the same program - so what is the major variable? Yep - its the students.
More evidence? The three Bio classes I teach this year have widely differing grade distributions too - in one class 35% of the kids are failing, in another its 18%. Whats the variable this time? It's still the kids!
I teach a class accessible to all - my evidence? - kids who work hard and engage in the class often get A's. Its not rocket science.
All I do everyday is open the achievement gap. Kids who try and work hard get further ahead, those who are not engaged fall further behind. All this talk about "we need good teachers" if fine - what if you have good teachers? There are MANY good teachers out there and there are many kids not engaged in school. Can schools and teacher improve, sure - but the money and resources are not provided, we are not empowered by our districts to make changes that could have impact and the improvements we do have control over often have little impact on kids who are not engaged. The big elephant in the living room is a society with a philosophy of growth and consumerism whose values are often in direct opposition to the values being taught in school. We have many parents who found it really easy to have kids but find it very hard to parent them.
How about we let those kids who are not engaged in school leave at age 16 and give them a credit voucher for two years of free education at a local community college when they figure out education really is the solution? Allows teachers to focus on those kids who truly want to be there and allows those who are not motivated to check out "the real world". At least when they come back they are likely to be more mature and more motivated.

Amen to this statement! "The big elephant in the living room is a society with a philosophy of growth and consumerism whose values are often in direct opposition to the values being taught in school. We have many parents who found it really easy to have kids but find it very hard to parent them."

Blaming is a relatively easy crutch to lean on when faced with tangled problems such as our ailing educational system. Uninvolved parents, unskilled teachers, un-motivated students, misguided policy makers, rampant consumerism, and disparate socio-economic factors are all blamed for the steady decline in public education. Truthfully, they probably all contribute significantly, however, the challenge when faced with such thorny multifaceted problems is not to lay the blame at the feet of other more culpable factions, but to reflect on our small role in the whole and identify ways to improve our contribution.

As a teacher, I can learn from colleagues what brings their classes alive, I can reflect on my practice with mentors, and engage students in an open dialogue about how they envision our partnership in their education. As a member of the community I can disregard punitive public acts such as publishing teacher test data that undermine true reform efforts grounded in teacher growth and support. And as a parent I can spend time with my child in enriching environments, foster creativity, and support her growth as an individual free thinker.

What can you do?