In a clip from Education Gadfly’s Channel titled D.C. Teachers’ perspectives on Evaluations through Impact, teachers have a chance to speak regarding Impact, a new system of evaluations. The interviewed teachers are in support of Impact as a system of evaluation. Impact involves standardized test scores and five observations over the course of the year. The teachers feel that the addition of observations to the valuations process gives evaluators a better idea of teachers’ quality through taking a look at their methods in the classroom. Under Impact, the teachers have a chance to defend themselves if they do not score well. They can go over their results first with their evaluator and then their principal if they still feel that they have been evaluated unfairly in some way. The teachers who were interviewed seem to think being evaluated is positive both for their careers and for their students.
ABC News spoke with Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten, and Michelle Rhee in an interview entitled, Crisis in the Classroom. Weingarten believes unions are not the issue so much as we need to work toward solutions. Improving teacher evaluations is an important step toward some solutions. All three interviewed agree that merit pay is important because it creates incentive to raise the standards, which is something our country desperately needs to do. Duncan stated that we have been dumbing down standards, and that is what is letting us fall behind.
Brooking’s Institution Channel interviewed Russ Whitehurst, the Director of Brown Center on Education at Brookings. The Impact evaluation system was the main subject of the interview. Whitehurst stated that having a poor teacher could have an incredibly detrimental affect on a student’s progress over the year. Students who are unfortunate enough to endure this experience over successive years may never catch up. He believes it is important to have teacher evaluations that work and are evaluating at a consistent level throughout each state and throughout the country. Even good systems are not helpful if they are not comparable.
The Politics Hour aired an interview with Michelle Rhee regarding teacher evaluations in which Rhee addressed some of the criticism that has surrounded the new Impact system of evaluation. Rhee believes the Impact system of evaluation is fairer to the teachers, because it includes an objective component. When asked if she agrees with one district’s release of teachers’ evaluation scores to the public, Rhee stated that releasing the results of such evaluations to the public would be a good idea if done in the right way.
On MSNBC, Arne Duncan asserted that we must close the achievement gap. He noted that we would do well to worry less about class size and more about the talent of the teacher. Schools in nations that have surpassed us academically, such as Finland, have sacrificed small class size to ensure that every class has a highly qualified teacher standing in front of it. Finland allows only the best in their class to educate the country’s students. We as a country need more qualified teachers. Duncan believes our current NCLB policy has many faults. He believes we should fix NCLB in a bipartisan way. We need to provide opportunities and higher expectations.
The dominant narrative in TV media is in support of a new system of evaluations that includes both the results of high-stakes testing and classroom observations of teachers. TV media takes a stance in favor of revising the evaluation system without shining a negative light on teachers or unions. Instead, the TV media is working to spread the message that improving the evaluation system is the key to achieving the academic progress our nation strives for and would be beneficial to both the students and the teachers.
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