Above is the link to the "list" that has gotten so much attention in the media and on countless Tweets and blogs over the last few days. The "list" of the best teachers in Los Angeles Public Schools. It is a little harder to find the list of the 100 worst and I'm actually not sure it exists.
What is interesting if you have a few minutes it to click on one of the teacher names or perhaps a few of them and then scroll down to the comments section for that teacher.
Parents, teachers, and even students are posting. Some posts are general in nature and others are very specific relating to actual teachers.
While I am in favor of data like this being available as long as people are educated and understand that value added data like this is "a number" not "the number". It is one piece of information related to that teacher....not the only piece of information on that teacher.
From reading the comments there were people posting that their favorite teacher was highly ranked and the rating was right on. Yet, other people posted saying they had a bad experience with one of the highly rated teachers and it was only when their child was transferred to another teacher (not as highly ranked or even only average) that their child began to grow, blossom, and develop in a reader or learner.
It reminded me that behind every child there is a story and behind each child and parent's interaction with a school there is a unique story. Perhaps there really is no "best" teacher...but rather a better teacher for a particular learner. While one child may flourish with a particular teacher another child may struggle with the very same teacher.
I need to spend more time thinking on how this Value Added data should be used.
