Grading LA's teachers -- and Charlotte's

A Los Angeles Times article rating the effectiveness of teachers there is creating a lot of buzz around the country -- and getting close attention in the top offices of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The newspaper commissioned a researcher with the Rand Corp. to calculate the "value added" ratings for more than 6,000 LA elementary-school teachers, based on test scores going back seven years. Those whose students gained more than expected had high ratings; those whose student gained little or regressed rated low. The Times plans to publish a database listing each teacher's rating later this month, but first is giving teachers a chance to view their ratings and comment.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has no plans to use such data. But CMS does.

Value-added ratings are part of Superintendent Peter Gorman's plan to roll out teacher performance pay in the coming years (he expects to announce a timeline this fall). He calls Rand "a very reputable company" that CMS has worked with, though he isn't familiar enough with the formula used in LA to say how close it might come to what CMS eventually develops.

He's been fascinated to see what the newspaper came up with -- and watch the reaction.

"Contrary to popular belief, the best teachers were not concentrated in schools in the most affluent neighborhoods, nor were the weakest instructors bunched in poor areas," the article says. "Rather, these teachers were scattered throughout the district. The quality of instruction typically varied far more within a school than between schools."

Even in high-performing schools, principals weren't always good at sizing up which teachers were effective, the reporters found. Highly effective teachers vary in style and personality, but "perhaps not surprisingly, they shared a tendency to be strict, maintain high standards and encourage critical thinking."

The LA teachers' union is pushing for a mass boycott of the Times, calling the publication of the database "an irresponsible, offensive intrusion into (teachers') professional life that will do nothing to improve student learning."

In Charlotte, Gorman says he's convinced some type of value-added rating should be part -- but not all -- of what determines a teacher's pay.

"One of the discussions we've had: As you calculate a value-added, is it a public record?" Gorman said. "And if it's a public record, do you get parents saying, 'I want so-and-so because they have the highest value-added?' We're paying close attention to how this is playing out."

Even among the nation's education reporters, opinions are mixed about the merit of listing individual ratings, given the limitations of testing to size up what kids have learned. (Read what Linda Perlstein, public editor for the Education Writers Association, has to say about the article here.)

Gorman says he and his staff "purposefully slowed down" since announcing plans to push performance pay in CMS. He said he wants to make sure local teachers and principals have a say, and wants to learn from other districts' experiences.

"This is a situation to watch from afar," he said.