An important report from The New Teacher Project

I got two responses to my email in which James Forman asked for details about teacher evaluation systems.  To fix a horribly broken system, one first must understand the exact nature of the depravity of the current system, so here's Tim Daly, who took over The New Teacher Project when Michelle Rhee took the job as Superintendent of DC's schools.  He writes:

I am passing along a  copy of the report TNTP released on Chicago yesterday and a link to the Tribune profile of the article.  Our hope is that this work can push Chicago to create an evaluation system that has a meaningful connection to student outcomes.

Below is the Tribune article.  Chicago's system (or lack thereof), which is similar to that of every large public school system in the country (though I'm sure there are a handful of exceptions), makes me ill because of the millions of children who are victimized by such systems, which protect the worst teachers and fail to reward the best ones:

Among the most significant findings in  the study was the lack of accountability in some of the worst-performing  schools in Chicago. Principals in 69 schools that were deemed failing between  2003 and 2005 did not give unsatisfactory ratings -- the lowest score on an  evaluation -- to any of their teachers.

There are 623 schools in the  district, the third-largest school system in the nation. Teachers are  evaluated annually.

Teachers union and school district officials have  acknowledged problems with the evaluation process and had been working  together on changes to the system long before the report.

"The teacher  evaluation system here is absolutely broken," said schools chief Arne Duncan  in response to the report. "It needs a dramatic overhaul."

More than 90  percent of teachers in Chicago schools were ranked as "superior" or  "excellent" between 2003 and 2006, the report said. Only three of every 1,000  teachers in the school system received an "unsatisfactory" rating, according  to the study, which was funded by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation. In the  2006-07 school year, the district had 24,664 teachers.

Daly said  teacher rankings on their evaluations did not hold any importance because  getting a top mark did not seem to contribute to an increase in pay, position  or assignments. The report also found that between 2003 and 2006, only nine  teachers received two or more "unsatisfactory" ratings and none was  dismissed.

The report also recommended that Chicago officials focus on  performance rather than seniority or tenure, and revamp their hiring schedule  to recruit teachers before the summer, as is the practice in most school  districts.

Three cheers for TNTP for shining a bright light on this problem!


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Report: No teeth in teacher ratings
Study calls for tying system more closely to kids' performance
By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune staff reporter

July 30, 2007

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Even though 87 Chicago public schools were deemed failing by the district for two years in a row, none of the teachers in the majority of the schools received an unsatisfactory rating on their evaluations, according to a report released Monday.