By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles school district leaders are poised to plunge ahead with their own confidential 'value-added' ratings this spring, saying the approach is far more objective and accurate than any other evaluation tool available, despite its complexity.
By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
Teachers and administrators are enthusiastic about new evaluation systems at Fedde International Studies Academy in Hawaiian Gardens, but student test scores have yet to improve.
By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs a far-reaching bill that has raised the ire of state and national unions.
By Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times
A University of Colorado review of Los Angeles Unified teacher effectiveness also raises some questions about the precision of ratings as reported in The Times.
By Jason Felch and Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
Manhattan judge's ruling involves the performance ratings of 12,000 instructors.
Associated Press
Using seniority as the sole factor hurts the learning ability of children, authors say.
By Jason Felch, Jason Song and Sandra Poindexter, Los Angeles Times
Years-long efforts to improve Markham Middle School in Watts included changing the curriculum, reducing class sizes and requiring uniforms. But real progress occurred when more effective teachers were brought in.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
Teachers stand firm against larger classes and evaluations using students' test scores.
By Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times
Preliminary findings show 'value-added' analysis is a reliable guide to effectiveness.
By Geraldine Baum, Los Angeles Times
It says media access to the evaluations, which name the educators, would cause harm.
By Jason Felch, Jason Song and Doug Smith, Los Angeles Time
After the budget ax fell, hundreds of the district's most promising new instructors were laid off. Campuses in poorer areas — such as Liechty Middle School in the Westlake neighborhood — were disproportionately hurt.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
Washington is using the controversial 'value-added' method to evaluate teachers.
By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times
Some see them as obstacles, and even sympathizers agree their voice is muted.
By Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times
The decision by the country's largest school district is expected to escalate the national debate over evaluating educators based on test scores.
By Steve Lopez
The head of the L.A. teachers union has definite ideas on improving education. Perhaps he should join the discussion instead of protesting.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
Board acts to create a database about national efforts, endorses value-added.
By Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times
L.A. Unified teachers accuse the paper of unfair reporting on instructor evaluations.
By Sandy Banks
Boosting education trumps hurt feelings of teachers in database
By James Rainey
What's fair when private and public interests collide?
Rather than argue about test scores, administrators and teachers should make good use of the data.
By Jason Song
Civic leaders ask L.A. Unified to use student test-score data as part of its staff assessments.
The Times' investigation draws criticism, praise from teachers
By Jason Song
Most members seem to favor revamping system for assessing L.A. Unified teachers.
By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
The Times made public an analysis of L.A. Unified third- through fifth-grade teachers based on student test scores.
By Steve Lopez
Steve Franklin, a middle school teacher in L.A. Unified, had some issues with The Times series on teacher evaluations, so he fired off a letter to the editor.
By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
Education Secretary Arne Duncan will call on districts across the nation to make data on teachers public.
By George Skelton
Teachers should be judged in part by how well students do
By Phil Willon and Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
Union president says he will meet with L.A. Unified leaders to discuss changes, but refuses to say whether the value-added method, even as just a part of teacher reviews, will be on the table.
By Jason Song
The district wants new labor contracts to include 'value-added' data as part of teacher evaluations.
By Sue Horton
Using 'value-added' analyses to identify the most effective teachers will allow LAUSD officials to study what those teachers are doing right.
By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times
The national union chief urges The Times not to publish ratings of LAUSD teachers.
By Jason Felch and Jason Song, Los Angeles Times
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Monday that parents have a right to know if their children's teachers are effective.
By Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times
Duffy objects to the paper's public analysis of the effectiveness of thousands of L.A. Unified teachers.
By Jason Song and Jason Felch
Districts and states that use the 'value-added' approach have had some surprising results: Class size, student background and schools' funding appear to be less critical than has long been believed.
By Jason Felch and Jason Song
In Tenn. and N.C., Terry Grier adopted and expanded a statistical method of tracking student progress. Union resistance scuttled more modest efforts in San Diego, mirroring a brewing national debate.