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Teachers & Principals Question Deasy Teacher Evaluation Plan

Hillel Aron | February 26, 2013


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In a recent conversation with LA School Report, Dr. Judith Perez, President of the Administrators Union, weighed in on LAUSD’s controversial new teacher evaluation guideline:

“It feels rushed to us,” she said. “We understand the judge’s requirement that this be implemented this year. But what happens then is an attitude of, ‘just get it done.'”

Perez’s comments, along with previous complaints from the teachers union, raise questions about if and when the new teacher evaluation plan will be rolled out — and whether the teacher evaluations that result will be consistent within and among different LAUSD schools.

Earlier this month, Superintendent John Deasy issued guidelines to principals, saying that student progress (including test scores and other metrics) should count for up to 30 percent of teacher evaluations. UTLA President Warren Fletcher immediately cried foul.

Since then, Fletcher has told LA School Report that according to the agreement between his union and the district, principals should have the latitude to weigh student progress differently for different teachers. “Strict numerical requirements tend to lead to shoe-horning outcomes into the process,” said Fletcher.
“That means that every single person would be treated differently,” responded Deasy, noting that the guideline were intended to ensure that teachers weren’t evaluated differently within a school or among different schools. “We  don’t treat students that way.”

For her part, Perez is worried that the new evaluation guidelines are still too vague. How are principals supposed to use standardized test scores to evaluate teachers when the most recent scores they have are from last year? “It’s murky,” she said. “It’s not clear.”

Previous posts: Union & District Clarify Positions on Teacher Evaluation, Board Candidates Fault Process, Not 30% Figure, District Makes Student Achievement 30% of Teacher Evaluation*

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