Tests, teachers and zombies

The N.C. Board of Education is trying again to turn student test scores into a reliable measure of teacher effectiveness.  At today's meeting in Raleigh,  members will talk about using the new tests that debut this spring to calculate ratings for teacher and principal job evaluations.

According to the online presentation,  this year's teacher evaluations included a rating that combined  the progress their own students made on 2012 tests and the school's overall growth.  That approach was supposed to encourage teamwork and provide ratings for teachers whose students don't take state exams.  But in reality,  the school numbers pulled down about 2,850 effective teachers and bumped up about 2,650 teachers whose individual ratings were low,  the presentation says.

"The inclusion of school-wide growth hurt high-performing teachers working in low-performing schools and discourages high-performing teachers from working in the schools where they are needed most,"  the report says.  For 2013,  the Department of Public Instruction is urging the board to base teacher ratings only on student scores they're directly responsible for.

Value-added ratings created a backlash when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools tried them three years ago.  This time around,  they'll be based on new, more complicated exams.  And the teacher value is being calculated through a system known as EVAAS,  a proprietary private formula  that can't be double-checked by teachers or districts.  That's raising concerns among local educators,  including Superintendent Heath Morrison.

Meanwhile,  some of the folks who fought the CMS testing are reviving the effort.  Mecklenburg ACTS has launched a "No Testing Zombies" campaign,  with a rally planned before Tuesday's school board meeting. The slogan:  "How are standardized tests like zombies? They're mindless and they just keep coming."  Laurie Smithwick,  a Chantilly Montessori mom who runs a design firm,  created the logo of zombies in a school-crossing sign.  As of Wednesday evening, the group had 579 signatures on its electronic petition urging state officials to put the teacher-rating effort on hold.

There's been some back-and-forth on this blog and in the Observer's editorial section about the number of new tests being rolled out this year,  based partly on whether you define a new version of a previously-tested subject as "new."  I hope to get a more detailed breakdown on Morrison's 177-test tally next week.  In the meantime, MeckACTS has revised its petition to refer to  "more than 100"  new tests.