Stephen Sawchuk is a former federal education beat writer. In this blog, he interprets and explains the policies and politics that affect teacher preparation, teacher contracts, and teacher evaluation.
I selected this blog because it appears to be one of the least sided. The author also provides several references for the reader to obtain more information on the topics discussed.
D.C. Contemplates Different Teaching Standards http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2011/01/dc_different_teacher_evaluatio.html
This post states that Washington D.C.’s mayor, Vincent C. Gray, has concerns about the city’s IMPACT teacher evaluation scale. The mayor mentions that IMPACT does not take student/school characteristics into consideration when evaluating teachers across the city. Mayor Gray points out that teaching in a school located in the Northwestern part of the city is not the same as teaching in a school located in the Southeastern part of the city. The atmosphere of the communities and schools are completely different. Things such as past performance and poverty can affect a teacher’s evaluation ratings. As a result, how can teachers from both school atmospheres be evaluated on the same scale?
Sawchuk points out that IMPACT actually has a device that factor in student/school characteristics, when evaluating teacher effectiveness; although, this device isn’t perfect. Sawchuk also brings up the questions of whether the teachers’ union would support an evaluation system that is not consistent across the city.
The quality of school resources and facilities along with the resources that students bring to the classroom has a huge impact on how effective a teacher can be. It is difficult to teach students who are absent, malnourished, or of ill health. It is difficult to teach 21st century technology without 21st century technology in the classroom. All teachers cannot be evaluated on the same scale.
Evaluating teachers is a very "hot button" issue.
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