Boy oh boy, yesterday was sure a “one-two” punch on teachers with the Gates report and the front page New York Times story on the Chetty, Friedman & Rockoff (CFR) study.

Here are my choices for The Best Posts On The NY Times-Featured Teacher Effectiveness Study:

I think the best commentary on it is at Economists to teachers: We’ve dropped the “Deselection” and moved straight to “Fire ‘em” at Cedar Riener’s blog.

I’ve written two posts about it:

“let some of the players with lower batting averages go”

“The message is to fire people sooner rather than later”

Fire first, ask questions later? Comments on Recent Teacher Effectiveness Studies is from School Finance 101.

Here We Go Again is by David B. Cohen.

Quick impressions on Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff is by Sherman Dorn.

The Anatomy of Education Deform is from The Assailed Teacher.

The Persistence Of Both Teacher Effects And Misinterpretations Of Research About Them is by Matthew Di Carlo at The Shanker Blog.

The Politicization Of Educational Research is from Edwize.

What is the Value in a High Value-Added Teacher? is from The Core Knowledge blog.

What Nicholas Kristof Leaves Out: Discussing the Value of Teachers is from “Funny Monkey.”

Michael Winerip at The Times has written an exceptional commentary. Here is how he ends it:

Economists need to find a way to quantify everything. Teachers with high value-added ratings may indeed have long-term positive impacts on students. But it is also possible that teachers who are excellent at project-based education have an even stronger longterm impact and we would never know it because their results cannot be teased out of a million pieces of data.

The danger is that education policy gets driven by teaching methods that can be given a number.

I suspect that Mr. Noyes, my 11th grade Advance Placement American history teacher from 40 years ago, had a low value-added rating. As I recall, no one in our class got a top score of 5; I got a 3. There was no prepared curriculum aligned with the test: Mr. Noyes built the lessons. On any given topic, he would assign us several books that viewed history through different lenses — economics, politics, personality.

I have long ago forgotten the content of those lessons, but Mr. Noyes instilled in us something far more important: the understanding that history does not come from one book. While that idea has served me for a lifetime, I do not believe it is quantifiable.

The Evil Economics Of Judging Teachers is from The Awl.

Problems with the big teacher evaluation study is by Diane Ravitch.

Leaps of Logic and Sleights of Hand:The Misuse of Educational Research In Policy Debates is from Edwize.

Dear Michelle Rhee: About that teacher evaluation study is by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.

Follow up on Fire First, Ask Questions Later is from School Finance 101.

Scapegoating Teachers is by Moshe Adler.

Review of the Long Term Impacts of Teachers is from The National Education Policy Center.

Implications for Policy Are Not So Clear is by Douglas Harris and appeared in Education Next.

Revisiting the Chetty, Rockoff & Friedman Molehill is from Bruce Baker.

The Study That Keeps On Giving… is from VAMBoozled.

The Great Lakes Center has done an important review of infamous Raj Chetty, John Friedman, & Jonah Rockoff study on teacher’s value-added.

Debate Intensifies over Value-Added Research is from The National Education Policy Center and provides a good critique of the infamous Chetty study on VAM.

The Holes in the Chetty et al VAM Study as Seen by the American Statistical Association is from Diane Ravtich’s blog.

Wash. Post Article Wonders If Test Scores Might Not Accurately Evaluate Teachers — Ya’ Think?

Feedback is always welcome.

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You might also want to explore the 800 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.