The LA Times has done some great work on teacher quality recently. Most astounding is that it is naming individual teachers, calling them out. Finally, some accountability! The teacher's union is going to love this!
I believe this information should be made publicly available for all schools. Let the parents decide where to send their kids. And let us, society as a while, decide the best way to educate our children.
I believe that parents are the greatest influence in educating their kids. But the numbers show that teachers make a big difference, too.
Summary by, Marginal Revolution:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/08/la-times-ranks-teachers.html
Link to the LA Times article:
"GRADING THE TEACHERS Who's teaching L.A.'s kids?"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers-value-20100815,0,258862,full.story
On the other hand...
It is very difficult to rank teachers. Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal:
"Needs Improvement: Where Teacher Report Cards Fall Short "
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575440100517520516.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Major points include:
"One perplexing finding: A large proportion of teachers who rate highly one year fall to the bottom of the charts the next year."
What accounts for this year-to-year variation? Can we trust these rankings?
Even if imperfect, are these rankings still better than nothing? "'Damn near anything is going to be an improvement on the status quo,' says Daniel Willingham, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia."
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