The Last Laugh: Problems with new Teacher Evaluations

When all the talk shifted to evaluating teachers based on state test scores, I immediately thought about all the teachers that don't have a state test attached to their course. By the way, that number is usually 60% or higher. So now everyone is scrambling on how to do it.

Because there are no student test scores with which to evaluate over half of Tennessee’s teachers — kindergarten to third-grade teachers; art, music and vocational teachers — the state has created a bewildering set of assessment rules. Math specialists can be evaluated by their school’s English scores, music teachers by the school’s writing scores.

This is just the beginning. I would love to see a Math teacher be fired for having low English state test scores. Someone explain this to me...and once again, if anyone would have asked a teacher, they would have told you that this wouldn't work. Not because they don't want it, but because it just won't work.