More specifically, they found that for the Danielson Framework and CLASS (the two more generalized instruments examined in this study, also of main interest in this post), teachers with relatively more racial / ethnic minority and lower - achieving students (in that order, although these are correlated themselves) tended to receive
lower observation scores.
Officials have made several other changes to the system, including giving teachers the opportunity to have
their lowest observation score dropped (if it's less than the average of the others).
Not exact matches
In his State of the State address, Mr. Cuomo argued that rooting half of a teacher's evaluation in student test
scores and the other half on
observation is the only way to improve stubbornly
low pupil performance rates.
The question is whether teachers who were dismissed for
low evaluation
scores in the districts we studied would have received substantively different evaluation
scores if their classroom
observation scores had been adjusted as we recommend.
Specifically, a teacher assigned the highest - achieving students is four times as likely to get a very high
observation score as a teacher assigned the
lowest - achieving students.
Or, put another way, if teachers were generating high test
score gains from their students by creating a climate of abject fear in their classrooms, their
observation scores should be
low and that information is useful.
Low -
scoring principals focus more on formal, summative
observations, providing limited, non-threatening feedback, primarily to nontenured teachers.
''... In contrast,
low -
scoring principals described a very different approach to
observations.
I mentioned earlier that a teacher with high value - added and
low classroom observation scores (High - Low) is unlikely to be equally effective as one with low value - added and high classroom observations scores (Low - Hig
low classroom
observation scores (High -
Low) is unlikely to be equally effective as one with low value - added and high classroom observations scores (Low - Hig
Low) is unlikely to be equally effective as one with
low value - added and high classroom observations scores (Low - Hig
low value - added and high classroom
observations scores (
Low - Hig
Low - High).
Taylor received «exceeding expectations» classroom
observation scores, but a
low value - added estimate reduced his final evaluation
score below the requirement to receive the bonus.
So, a value - added
score should lead us to collect additional information (e.g., more classroom
observations, student surveys, portfolios) to identify truly
low - performing teachers and to provide feedback to help those teachers improve.
Then there is the case of Rebecca Sellers, who received
low marks during her two
observations so far this year, but the top rating, 5, based on her students» test
score progress last year.
And considering the
low - quality of subjective classroom
observations that are the norm for traditional teacher evaluation systems, the state laws and collective bargaining agreements governing teacher performance management discourage school leaders from providing more - ample feedback, and that the use of objective student test
score growth data is just coming into play, few teachers have gotten the kind of feedback needed to build such expertise in the first place.
After reviewing results of the written classroom
observation test the instructors of the course said that students»
scores seemed
lower than they would have expected, but that it was difficult to interpret the raw test
scores.
«As in medicine, a value - added
score, combined with some additional information, should lead us to trigger classroom
observations to identify truly
low - performing teachers and to provide feedback,» Doug Harris, a Tulane education economist, wrote in 2012.
They might monitor these teachers» value - added
scores for consistent highs or
lows and check how they relate to other measures of teaching, such as classroom
observations.
Regardless, and assuming that Barnum's original misinterpretation was correct, I think how Katharine Strunk put it is likely more representative of the group of researchers on this topic as a whole as based on the research: «I think the research suggests that we need multiple measures — test
scores [depending on the extent to which evidence supports
low - and more importantly high - stakes use],
observations, and others — to rigorously and fairly evaluate teachers.»
Teachers with students with higher incoming achievement levels receive classroom
observation scores that are higher on average than those received by teachers whose incoming students are at
lower achievement levels, and districts do not have processes in place to address this bias.
It opens with the
observation that New York's
low success percentages for proficiency on the Big Test are simply «unacceptable» and therefore Cuomo will make sure that the cut
scores are set at more acceptable levels as determined by educators and not politicians.
In addition, «approximately half of the teachers — 48 % in ELA and 54 % in math — were rated in the top two performance quintiles if assigned the highest performing students, while 37 % of ELA and only 18 % of math teachers assigned the
lowest performing students were highly rated based on classroom
observation scores»
Subjects contributing more
observations had a
lower adiposity z
score at age 15 mo (P < 0.05), but there were no differences in adiposity z
scores at other ages.