Using Test Scores To Out Ineffective Teachers

One plus of the newspaper analysis is that the data question the conventional wisdom of what is a "good" teacher. Consider third grade teacher Karen Caruso and her colleague down the hall, Nancy Polacheck at the Third Street Elementary School. The principal considers 26-year veteran Caruso one of the best teachers in the school. Caruso also prepares future teachers at UCLA, is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and parents express satisfaction with her. But the newspaper's analysis of test scores puts her in the lowest 10 percent of teachers in raising student scores.

Nancy Polacheck a veteran of 38 years teaching in the same school without Caruso's credentials and using different teaching approaches-according to the journalists that observed her classroom-ranks in the top 5 percent of the 6,000 teachers for raising student test scores.

Using Test Scores To Out Ineffective Teachers « Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice