Education Evaluation

       Over the last decade, new policies and regulations have been implemented by the government to try and ensure a higher quality of education in America. State tests are administered, schools are given ratings, and most recently, teacher evaluations (data reports) of almost 18,000 New York City teachers have been revealed to the public. Many of the reports released have a margin of error as great as 75% and yet, many parents, students, and prospective employers may look at them and take them for face value. These reports contain student test results and compare them the previous test results. If improvement is made, teachers generally receive better assessments, but if the results are worse, then the opposite occurs. Factors such as school location or mental state of the student’s mind aren’t even accounted or represented within the test results.

        These assessments are only a preview of what is to come for the New York City public school system. Come this Fall 2012, a more thorough report of teacher evaluations will be given, with potential student survey as an added aspect. I think that teachers should be rated and assessed because it helps rule out the teachers who are not doing a sufficient job, from the one’s who are making an impact on student’s lives. I do not however, believe that these rating systems are going to necessarily yield results, which are accurate. In fact, I believe that adding student survey may add bias to the evaluations and misconstrue the data for many teachers. An easy grading teacher, who does not necessarily teach students his/her students well, may receive better survey results, as opposed to a teacher who is a tough grader, but teaches with proficiency.

           The objective of a teacher, in my opinion, should be to develop a student who is not only ready to take a standard exam, but who is also well-rounded, has a thorough understanding of concepts, and thinks at a higher level. From my experience, (as a public school student for the last 11 years) is that the teachers who I’ve learned from the most, have strived to not only limit me to state standards and excel on exams, but also made me want to learn more. I’m not sure about how to exactly go about improving our school systems, but I think that it will require a lot more reliable and accurate data before we come to conclusions about what we need to improve on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-ochshorn/teacher-data-reports_b_1304237.html