So, we will base the decision to fire or keep a teacher on test scores? The very concept of value added and student growth statistics have been shown to be not accurate and unreliable. This is no different than a hospital firing a doctor because a patient refused to stop smoking, lose weight or take their medications. A teacher presents a curriculum to students and gives assignments to reinforce expected learning. it is up to the student to complete work, take notes ask questions and study. Kids must be accountable for their own learning. A teacher should be rated on instruction techniques and subject mastery. Your dentist can tell you to brush and floss all they want, but it is up to you to follow his instructions.

"The Widget Effect" was produced The New Teachers Project, founded by Michelle Rhee, a education "reformer" with a very specific agenda. There is data in the study that has been disputed, it oversimplifies the very real problems facing this country's urban schools and it provides the nation with a scapegoat (teachers) for social failures that go well beyond the classroom.
"The Widget Effect" has allowed for-profit educational experts to swoop in on our nation's public schools and exploit an unearthed financial goldmine and with politicians in their pocket, both Democrats and Republicans, I'm afraid little will be done to stop this.

Surely I'm not the only person to see irony in the idea that a report bemoaning the "Widget Effect" has become the genesis for a system that rates teachers with standardized scores based on results of students taking standardized tests after being taught with curriculum, for the first time, aligned with national standards. (?)

And we are worried about mediocrity.

Another point to consider is that objective is not synonymous with fair, nor does it imply valid.

Rhee was only a classroom teacher for two or three years. She admitted taping a child's mouth shut in class. She has no business in education. She was run out of town by the voters of Washington D.C.

Here's a series of problems that this article doesn't address -- possibly because the author isn't aware. The NJ DOE has an official timeline right now that states the guidelines that districts will be required to follow won't be finalized until October 6th at the earliest -- it could take longer if the powers that be decide to revise things further. In addition, while the program relies on student data the state won't be able to issue the numbers that districts must use for the evaluation until some time in November. Finally, the state has made no guarantees that NJ ASK & GEPA scores from testing in 2014 won't be available any sooner than the fall of 2015. How can the districts be expected to assess their faculty when the numbers that make up 50% of the evaluation process won't be available when hiring/firing/staffing issues must be completed? The NJ DOE is a mess and, although they're trying, they've created a mess that will not be sorted out before the fall of 2015.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-year_teach.html

Quote, "Their lips were bleeding. "

http://d2route.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/did-michelle-rhee-lie-about-her-

record-as-a-teacher/

Three years in a class.

Almost still a rookie.

7 out ...must be out your mind....posting left wing blog posts and misquotes from a liberal media opt Ed piece doesn't prove anything. Are you jealous of Rhee or are you just a racist?

If you are representative of the average NJ teachers mentality no wonder why the current school systems in such bad shape.

Our current school system is most certainly not in bad shape. NJ schools always are in the top tier of schools in the nation. New Jersey ranks among the top 2 states in Education Week's "Chance for Success Index," which measures a state's ability to give its children the greatest chance for success and shows that it is doing more in preparing young people for the challenges they will face as adults. New Jersey public schools rank among the top 2 in the nation in academic achievement. New Jersey eighth graders rank #1—far above any other state in the nation—in writing in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

New Jersey average score on the fourth grade reading exam for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the second highest in the nation. New Jersey ranks third in the nation for having the largest proportion of public school eighth graders scoring at the highest two levels in reading NAEP.

New Jersey ranks third in the nation for having the largest proportion of public school eighth graders scoring at the highest two levels in math in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and fifth in the nation among fourth graders.

New Jersey is 1st in the nation in the percentage of Advanced Placement (AP) exams taken by public high school students that result in scores high enough to qualify for college credit.
■Source: College Board. 2013 Report to the Nation, 9th Annual

In New Jersey, public school students score higher than private school students on their AP exams.
■
Source: College Board. 2011 AP New Jersey Summary Report

New Jersey ranks first in the nation in the percentage of students graduating high school.
■
Source: Education Week. Diploma Counts 2012: Trailing Behind, Moving Forward. June 2012
New Jersey is #1 in the nation, with the highest percentage of African-American and the highest percentage of Latino students graduating from high school.
■
Source: Education Week. Diploma Counts 2012: Trailing Behind, Moving Forward. June 2012.

New Jersey has made “unprecedented” large-scale gains in third grade reading in its poorest school districts.
■
Source: Education Week

Some posters do not have their own opinions and therefor must cut and paste NJEA talking points.

Source: Tugwalla Daily News

Contrary to what your GOP wants you to believe (some people do not have their own opinions), NJ schools (and especially the ones where you live in South Brunswick) have met most of the Annual Yearly Progress standards that were enacted by your former President Bush. Most of the nation couldn't come close, but in NJ, we did. A great number of NJ public school teachers (not admin and BOE) earn very little for the hours they devote towards their craft. I challenge you to stand in front of 25 nine year-olds and educate them with your infinite wisdom for one week in the classroom. That's it, you and the kids, one week. Sound good? Now lets try another challenge, you and the same 25 nine year-olds for 181 days, 7 hours a day. They would eat you alive and you know it.

Native...the GOP is an impotent group of people chasing their tails...what does a do nothing political party have to do with a political system that has been hijacked by special interest money (NJEA) that has led to hire taxes and low performing schools?

Who pays for the NJEA Tugwalla? Teachers do. Out of their salary. NJEA is not the problem with your hire taxes. Your arguments are flawed. Deep inside you must realize that the $55k salaries who educate our youth is not the real reason behind the problem with your taxes.

As Joe R pointed out, our schools are performing Tugwalla. The overall responsibility of our children must be shared 50/50 (parent and teacher). You would be shocked to see the lack of responsibility coming from the parents at home. There has been a big shift with regards to the new generation of parents. Children need a foundation that starts at home, clearly you can understand that. BUT, earlier you claimed there is no accountability in the classroom. That is a completely false statement. There has been more and more accountability in the classroom over the last decade. Teachers are being directly tied to student performance. Have you not read the news?

If there is anyone actually reading this, the Board of Education (they are elected by the people) is held responsible for managing and appropriating money in public schools. Not the teachers. Teachers aren't the ones sucking the system dry, despite what Tugwalla claims.. There is a lot that goes into operating a public school district: maintenance, custodial, administration, transportation, professional development and curriculum, paraprofessionals, and teachers. When you see taxes and a percentage that is devoted to public schools, teachers are just one facet. Everyone associates school = teachers, but there are a lot of people employed by any given public school distric in NJ, but only a portion of those enployees are the ones actually educating our children inside the classroom.

Want to reduce public money waste? Pass laws against nepotism and cronyism. That'll stop so much of the waste immediately. Force disclosure of all relationships. But Christie will never sign that because his friends are on the gravytrain of it too.