Florida media specialist given bad evaluation for students she never taught. Not fair.

[madfloridian]

They used to be called librarians, but the term is now Media Specialist. A good one is worth their weight in gold for all the services they provide to students and teachers. I hear through the grapevine this one is great.

Yet she was marked Needs Improvement. She does not teach students for test-taking. That is not her job.

Teachers upset with newly released appraisals


Kelly Moore, a media specialist at Littlewood Elementary School, works after school on Tuesday.
Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun

Kelly Moore has students from all grades pass through her library. As a media specialist at Littlewood Elementary, she does not prepare students for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Yet students' performance on the statewide assessment still affected her teacher evaluation for the 2011-2012 school year, which determined she "needs improvement."

"Needs improvement is like an F," she said.

Teachers are becoming fearful of this Value Added Model being pushed throughout the country by both parties.

Many expressed concern about job security, as state law holds that if they are rated unsatisfactory two consecutive years or two out of three years, they may be placed on an annual contract and possibly terminated.

The county superintendent offered teachers an apology for all the stress. He blamed Tallahassee, but VAM is bigger than just Florida.

"This is another half-baked scheme out of Tallahassee affecting the teacher profession," he said.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. ".....by both parties." K and R

Teachers are becoming fearful of this Value Added Model being pushed throughout the country by both parties.


Teachers are becoming fearful of this Value Added Model being pushed throughout the country by both parties.


Teachers are becoming fearful of this Value Added Model being pushed throughout the country by both parties.


Teachers are becoming fearful of this Value Added Model being pushed throughout the country by both parties.

[madfloridian]

2. Exactly.

You understand.

[okwmember]

3. My state continues its race to the bottom.

The worst part of all this is how the teacher takes the hit for everything. How long will they go on ignoring that the biggest correlations for FCAT scores are zip code and the number of children in the school that receive free and reduced priced lunches.
Also, if this is supposed to be a state rating, how come they let each county determine its own formula for determining grades for teachers who don't teach FCAT subjects? The people running the show in Tallahassee get dumber and dumber.

[madfloridian]

5. Teachers have become scapegoats for the "reformers".

The FCAT is going, only to be replaced by End of Course tests...more testing to put more stress on students and hurt more teachers.

It's a tragic vicious circle.

[jtuck004]

9. "Testing improves education...

the same way that bombing promotes democracy"

Steve Cohn, Education professor at Tufts University


__

If you haven't heard it, thought you might like it.

[madfloridian]

20. Very true comment. Interesting comparison...

with more truth than we'd like to admit. Thanks for sharing.

[HiPointDem]

4. the same thing for all but math, science & english teachers. they all get rated by other

teachers' students' scores.

the whole thing is crazy, absolutely crazy. which is how you can tell is has not a goddamn thing to do with 'the children,' it's about destroying public education.

[madfloridian]

6. Yep, it's about turning education into profit for reformers.

That's exactly right.

[XemaSab]

8. I think it might be more sinister than that

I think there's a concerted effort to make public education in this country terrible, and the people behind it know what they're doing.

[madfloridian]

12. Maybe a nation of workers not thinkers?

Teaching to the test will only dumb us down....so there is probably something to that.

[eridani]

7. Well look who's back!

Your input on education issues has always been stellar.

[ReRe]

10. K&R

You know.... everyone knows that something is up with the belittling of our education system, teachers and students. Rather than put everyone through all this misery, I would rather they (whomever they are), would just come out and say what they intend to do with education in this country. WHY do they prefer to wear the teachers and students down with all the insult? This is not good for anyone invovled in our education system, educator or student.

Also, what does everyone think about Arne Duncan? I, for one, am just not endeared to that man. What is it with him? Or me? What has he done that's good for our education system?

[madfloridian]

13. I think Arne Duncan has harmed education more than any Republican ever has.

It's a shame he is staying on and keeping the same policies.

[ReRe]

14. I just don't get it...

I wish the teachers (and all of their supporters, like DU, e.g.) all over the country would mount a barrage of tweets to PO, asking for a new Ed Chief for Christmas. Please, please, pretty please, Mr President? For all the teachers and future of America: THE CHILDREN????

[madfloridian]

15. Those who are still teaching often afraid to cross the system...could lose jobs.

Some of the new principals and superintendents trained in the reformer mode...do NOT like criticism.

I'm retired, so I feel freer.

[ReRe]

16. That's so sad

Will just pray, then.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. kick

[Sgent]

17. How should she be evaluated?

Assuming that the reason she is there is to improve student's learning, how should she be evaluated?

If she has no effect on student's learning, then why have a skilled person in the first place? Why not have a clerical person to file the books or an IT person to handle the computers and media equipment?

If she does have an effect, then it should be measurable in some manner based on the student's performance.

Evaluating media specialists, guidance counselors, psychologists, other support personnel, and even principals, isn't easy -- and using student scores may not be a good proxy for performance. However, there should be measurable goalposts or milestones that do eventually lead to increased performance.

[madfloridian]

18. Not everything in this world is "measurable" by testing.

The mistake being made is assuming that all students have minds that can take a test that is made in secret, graded in secret, and has no recourse for parents and students. These test formats are proprietary. Parents must often hire lawyers to get access in order to learn more about their child's test scores.

A good librarian or media specialist doesn't need to be "graded" or "tested" in such a way. Their work is clearly good. There is no mistaking it. Likewise for a poor media specialist...their work really stands out.

The "reformers" realized that in order to get a foothold in public education they must first discredit the teachers and schools. They had to do that in order to take over. Make the tests harder when there is success, and more failure will follow. Then they can move in.

What better way to cause failure than secretive tests that can not be known to the public. They built a whole industry around that testing. And an industry around the scoring.

[Sgent]

19. I'm not assuming all students can be tested effectively

I am assuming that a population of students can be scored on a variety of factors that indicate overall education, and that a good teacher or teacher will increase those scores over time more than a bad teacher. I also assume that their are both good and bad teachers.

I also agree that some of the scales used (% norms vs. minimal or average score) can be misleading, and that individual student groups can get lost in a population.

The fundamental question IMHO is does a HS graduate know more than a first grader, and do teachers have an impact on that growth in knowledge? If so, can that growth be quantified in some manner -- we traditionally have used letter grades but there are many problems with them? Does teacher ability, dedication, etc., have any impact on student academic growth? If so those qualities that makeup superior teachers should be favored when hiring and promoting, and be examined for retention.

That's my theoretical background, although implementation may fall far short -- and some goals maybe unachievable directly so proxy goals need to be used.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. And How Does One Correlate The Overall Test Score . . .

. . .to the service providers in a school? Wait until we have 30 years of data per school and then i'd be willling to consider it.

There is no way to accurately measure a provider of service like a good library science specialist based upon overall school population advancement without tons of data directly dependent on that population and the providers.

By the time you had it, someone like this woman would be retired.
GAC