Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Dallas Independent School District.
There is a problem with the system being used to rate the performance of teachers at Dallas schools. Due to errors in coding or otherwise, some teachers are being rated based on classes they didn't teach or students who weren't assigned to them. This issue at Dallas schools needs to be dealt with immediately.
Teacher Rating System Needs to be Overhauled at Dallas Schools
The goal of the teacher rating system in Dallas schools is supposed to be to find a way to reward teachers who are performing well and identify those who are not as effective. This is a very good idea, but if this system is going to be used as a way to determine which teachers are dazzling and which ones are duds, then some safeguards need to be put into place to make sure that the information is accurate.
When a problem occurs with the ranking system being used by Dallas schools, then the procedure to rectify the problem should be relatively simple. As soon as officials are informed of a problem, an immediate investigation should be launched and the data on which the ranking is based recalculated. Any adjustments to be made should be done promptly.
Dallas Schools Should Find Better Way to Rate Performance
Part of the problem with the ranking system being used by Dallas schools is that teacher rankings are being based partly on the results taken from standardized tests. Unfortunately, how students perform on a particular day don't reflect the day-to-day efforts of the teacher to educate and motivate students. That small snapshot should not be used by Dallas schools to determine who the best teachers are.
When teachers at Dallas schools focus too much on preparing for standardized tests because a good performance means they will receive a higher ranking, everyone involved loses out. The emphasis in the classroom is taken off of doing the regular class work and learning good study skills and put on doing well on one day.
There has to be a better way to figure out which teachers are doing a great job at Dallas schools. The best teachers have the ability to engage their students and have them learn to love learning. These traits cannot be measured by taking a standardized test; in the end, standardized tests only measure a student's ability to take standardized tests.
If the current system of ranking teachers at Dallas schools isn't working the way it is, then it either needs to be overhauled or abandoned in favor of something better. The students attending Dallas schools deserve to have teachers who are motivated by their desire to help young people learn, not how some formula is going to rank them.
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