VAM Scores FACTOID

teacher-23304_1280I saw a bit of trivia in the Tampa Bay Times the other day.  It made me laugh or cry, not sure which, at life’s absurdities.

Based on VAM achievement gain scores only, 32 teachers in 18 districts had highly effective evaluations and 5 districts had elementary teachers who consistently earned unsatisfactory ratings over 4 years.  Such small numbers can only mean that VAM scores are worthless.

There are 175,006 teachers in Florida.  Could it just possibly be that VAM scores reflect which students are assigned to a teacher rather than which teacher is assigned to a class?  It does not take high level critical thinking to answer this question.

The Florida legislature could come up with a better evaluation system.  Almost any one of the options would be better if laced with a little common sense.

 

 

 

Posted in Achievement, Teachers, Testing.

One Comment

  1. PLEASE send this bit of common sense to the FL Board of Education, they who set policy for the Dept. of Ed. to implement. One cannot escape the clear message that the BOE appointed by Gov. Scott intends to diminish and even kill public education. After all, the FL Legislature is allowing taxpayer money to be used to fund private schools to the tune of over $500,000 for the 2016-17 school year. This money–projected to be $1 Billion by 2020– is diverted from public schools. These private schools have no VAM scores, so state tests, no teacher certification, no proscribed curriculum– in other words no accountability. To quote, Khanh-Lien Banko, parent advocate for public education, “We are in a dogfight for the soul of public education.”

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