Teacher, Course, Student, Expenditure Linkages.

A few states have the capability to link teachers to courses to students.  Very few can also link to expenditures.  Some states even have laws that prevent linking teachers to students.  Why’s this important?  If education is ever to understand the dynamics that make for successful schools, the data have to be linked.  If accountability is to ever result in diagnostic, formative, leading indicators that inform interventions, this must be done.

A major deterrent to progress is the fear that the data and the findings from analyses will become public—to the personal embarrassment of individual teachers.  Maybe this is an issue the legislature can handle.

The EduGuru speaks: Teachers must be sold on this idea. They as a whole really want to know how to be great.  They really want to know how they are doing individually.

Comments

[Dr. Elements]

I agree that students should be linked to teachers, but I think that should be the responsibility of the principals and district folks as they attempt to analyze what is happening with student learning. Teachers are concerned that they will be held accountable for things affecting students about which they can do nothing, such as whether or not the student has the support at home to learn. But principals are right there, and they know better how to interpret what is happening in a teacher’s classroom.

I think the main reason the SEAs have steered clear of making these linkages (besides teacher concern) is that if they have the information about the performance of a teacher’s students, then the SEA would have to release it, just as you imply. As one who has dealt at the SEA level with issues relating to evaluative information about teachers, I don’t think the state wants to be in the position of releasing teacher data that can be ranked because parents will want to pull their kids out of some teachers’ classrooms and make a big stink. Given the shortage of teachers in some areas, this could be a problem. But more, there is no easy way to explain to the public the constraints facing teachers with lower income students with unsupportive families and lower performance. It’s not just embarrassing, it is cruel.