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America’s best teacher and the L.A. Times – Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

When the Los Angeles Times announced it was releasing its analysis of how much value each one of 6,000 L.A. elementary school teachers had added to their classes, based on test scores, I knew how to test the validity of their project. I have spent much time in room 56 at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in L.A., where fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith has proved himself to be, in my view, the best classroom teacher in the country — and certainly in his city.

Would the Times data back up Esquith’s exceptional quality, obvious to the thousands of people who have visited his classroom and to the audiences who see his ethnic Hispanic and Korean 10-year-olds produce and perform a Shakespeare play each year?

Jay Mathews

Full Story: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/08/americas_best_teacher_and_the.html?hpid=sec-education

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Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

How good is one teacher compared with another?
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A growing number of school districts have adopted a system called value-added modeling to answer that question, provoking battles from Washington to Los Angeles — with some saying it is an effective method for increasing teacher accountability, and others arguing that it can give an inaccurate picture of teachers’ work.

Sam Dillon

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/education/01teacher.html?hpw

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