The New York City schools have agreed to postpone releasing teacher value-added assessments to the public at least until legal hearings next month.
However, before that agreement was reached, Education Secretary Duncan weighed in supporting their release — sort of. It was clear he was supporting the School District, but it wasn’t quite clear exactly what he was supporting.
Duncan is just compounding what I believe to have been his biggest mistake since he became Secretary when he supported the LA Times decision to make teacher scores in that community public (see Why I Think Arne Duncan Has Just Made His Biggest Mistake).
You can read more about what the New York District is trying to do with teacher scores here.
What makes you think Duncan made a “mistake.” Do you think he didn’t know what he was doing? Is Race to the Top a “mistake?” What about the mass firings at Central Falls? Another “mistake”? I think what you call mistakes are simply policy.
Bernard,
I believe it to indeed be a policy decision on their part. I also think it is a major strategic mistake that will ultimately backfire on them and defeat their ultimate political aims. There’s a saying in organizing that your opponent’s actions can be your best ally in building support. As I describe in my previous post, I think that Duncan’s support for publicizing teacher scores is like a “bridge too far” that will be a fatal blow for his agenda.
Larry
The LA Times series about the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of teachers was your basic fear mongering. They left out so many factors that effect the performance of both teachers and students.
Largely it was an irresponsible piece of journalism and has resulted in ‘less effective’ teachers being harassed instead of supported to become more effective teachers.