As a parent of two children attending NYC schools, having access to teacher data reports empowers me.
The most important factor in the education of my children during school is the effectiveness of their classroom teachers. It is imperative that I have access to any and all relevant data regarding their teachers’ effectiveness.
Parents know (and the current teacher data confirms) that in even the very best schools, the quality of teachers differs. Providing them with teacher data empowers them to make better informed choices.
Not only does it help parents identify inequities in teacher quality, it enables parents to identify problem areas in their children’s schools. For example, my son’s fourth grade teacher is average in English and below average in Math. This kind of transparency provides parents with a powerful tool and gives teachers a powerful incentive to consistently improve.
In most cases the teacher data reports will simply confirm what parents already know about their child’s teacher’s effectiveness.
My daughter’s 6th grade math teacher was the only teacher that helped her achieve a “4” (on a 4-point scale) on the state math test and she was ranked above average. In cases where data differs, parents are capable of putting the data into context.
While no statistical tool will provide a perfect measure of a teacher’s effectiveness, that’s not a reason to keep it hidden. Value-added teacher data reports protect teachers from unscrupulous principals, provide teachers with important feedback, and hold schools and principals accountable.
Great teaching is an art, and the attributes that make a teacher great is unrelated to his or her experience or certification. As a trained singer I can relate.
Regardless of the number of degrees or level of experience I have, when I’m on stage all that matters to the audience is the quality of my singing. Just as the qualities that make a singer great cannot be measured until he or she is on stage performing, the quality of a teacher cannot be determined until he or she is in front of a classroom of students.
Sadly, because we employ teachers on factors unrelated to their effectiveness, we have ended up with a large variation in teacher quality.
Objective, unbiased, value-added teacher data reports combined with principals’ robust subjective teacher observations and evaluations will go a long way to ensure that every child in NYC has access to a great teacher.
It’s time the great teachers of NYC receive the recognition they deserve.
Mr. Davis, the executive director of PMADNYC.org (Parents Making a Difference), had a daughter at Columbia Secondary School and a son at MS 314, both in Manhattan.