Across the country, school districts are struggling with ways to accurately and fairly evaluate teacher effectiveness. Understandably, many teachers balk at using high stakes testing as the sole or primary means, believing this approach too narrow and subject to too many factors not directly within teacher control.This week, as I watch high school students struggle through the process of selecting classes for next year, it's interesting to consider the criteria they use in selecting not only courses, but the teachers who host them. In the context of the issues surrounding how LCPS handles AP courses, it strikes me that our customers – the students – are very focused not just on AP course content, but on which teachers will best enable them to achieve those target scores of 3, 4, and 5. Just about every AP teacher includes in his marketing spiel to potential students the benefits of tuition savings and GPA boosts, so it's no surprise that much of the discussion among the customers (and some of the questions I get from them) revolve around identifying which teachers will help them perform the best on the AP Exams.
Is this an area, then, where it is appropriate to evaluate teachers on the performances of their students on end-of-course exams? Specifically, is there a value to students in providing them with AP Exam score statistics for each teacher?
Specifically, is there a value to students in providing them with AP Exam score statistics for each teacher?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. I've taught an AP class twice and I had good scores the first time and excellent scores the second time but I give 80% of the credit to the students and how hard they worked and their enthusiasm. I've always given my all to my AP classes but I've been lucky that my students gave back and that all of them were qualified and well prepared to be there. THis is not the case all the time, especially here in Loudoun where every student is pushed to take AP classes whether they have the work ethic and preparation or not. Jay Mathews does not rank schools on AP scores, just how the number of students that take them. At my school I feel that many students are encouraged by counselors to take AP classes event and the students sit there in the classes and don't do the work or don't study. It really isn't fair to students who work hard and want to be there. Of course, then, it's not fair to base a teacher solely on how his/her students perform on the AP test unless we can have the right to remove students from those classes who are not AP caliber.
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At my sons' high school, more than one teacher often teaches the same AP course. Teacher staffing can change as well during the summer. Most students don't know until the fall who that teacher will be. There is also no guarantee that the teacher that taught a class one year will do so the next.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the turnover rate is? If it is so high that the situation is as Anonymous Said describes then that's too bad for the students. You would think that teaching any course more than once would let a teacher get more proficient.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. My point wasn't that teacher turn-over is high. I imagine many teachers teach the same courses year after year. My point was that often more than one teacher teaches a specific AP course. Students sign up for courses...not teachers. They may guess...or hope for...but students do not know who their teacher will be until they receive their schedules in the fall.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I understand. A check of the Loudoun high schools department pages does show that some AP courses are taught by multiple teachers. The most common appear to be AP World History, AP Government, and AP Calculus AB, and in most cases there are at most only two teachers covering the course simultaneously. Others, like English, Language, Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Calculus BC, Psychology, Computer Math, Physics, and even US History, pretty much are offered through a single teacher.
ReplyDeleteI take your point, though. Certainly, the very high teacher turnover rates present a challenge (and not just with this AP issue). If we set that aside for a moment, however, even the two-teacher issue for the three most popular courses can be addressed through student/parent schedule change requests to Guidance in the Fall. Certainly, Guidance wouldn't be too happy if it received a high volume of such requests at the beginning of the year, but wouldn't that be an indication of other, more serious, issues in need of addressing?