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As one would expect from Barnett, the points he makes are of great importance but unfortunately not yet part of the larger dialog on policy. That is, Barnett Berry sees further ahead than most people expect to stay in the field.

It is interesting and encouraging that the NEA - of which I am a member - has committed substantial resources to this effort.

In the mean time, we have to hope for immediate widespread dissemination of the deconstruction of the four myths, because those myths are distorting the policy discussion and if allowed to continue to be repeated without challenge may well lock in educational policies that will be even more destructive than some of what we see now.

Check out this new study * showing that using value-added methods to identify individual teachers for merit pay and other high stakes decisions is confounded by how teachers learn from each other! Using 11 years of student achievement data, researchers have found that most value-added gains are attributed to teacher teams, not individuals. Drawing on very sophisticated analyses, peer learning among small groups of teachers seems to be the most powerful predictor of student achievement over time. It is time for policymakers and policy wonks get a bit more real. These findings support other evidence assembled in my recent paper and can carve out a path for the productive use of student achievement data and other measures (e.g., performance assessments, work products, and yes - even 21st century tools like multi-user virtual environments).

* http://www.nber.org/papers/w15202.pdf

We have a school in a rich area but because of zoning there are many children who attend that live in motel rooms but the teachers do not seem to understand this and still expect them to spend money all the time. casino

These excellent suggestions are consistent with the equally excellent Mass insight study, The Turnaround Challenge, that struggling schools need to be clustered.

I'm frustrated that data-driven "reformers," who sincerely believe that education is the civil rights issue of the 21st centry, do not seem to understand that others can be sincere. In higher ed, collegiality creates the same sort of benefits. Why can't people believe that public school teachers would seek collegiality and teamwork to help each other turnaround schools.

On the other hand, I don't see how the risk of termination by an incompetent VAM could attract teams of excellence.

Ken--You're right about the four myths. Each of them absolves people from taking on the conditions that make the difference between success and failure. We can be grateful that more research--like the study Barnett cites in his comment--are questioning the myths. We can hope that more responsive policies will follow suit.

Barnett--Thanks for the citation. The study's authors explicitly draw the same conclusion you do. Effectiveness can really rub off, so any evaluation models should promote--or at the very least not discourage--collaboration.

Richard--It certainly is troubling when schools don't take into account students' diverse financial backgrounds. Often, stronger links between community agencies and schools can raise schools' awareness of their students' social and economic challenges. i learned recently of programs--promoted by the Sesame Workshop--that help elementary schools identify and help children of parents who have been deployed overseas for long stretches. In many cases, the schools were unaware of what the students were going through before they started forging connections with the military and community organizations that could lend their special expertise.

John--I heartily support data-driven reform, as long as those data include information about outcomes, inputs, processes and conditions. It would be nice of teachers had greater confidence in the assessments that produce the data. And we still have much work to do to improve value-added measures of teacher effectiveness. A recent analysis of teacher (value-added) effectiveness in New York City confirms what many other researchers have found: There is very little consistency in a given teacher's value-added effectiveness from one year to he next. A top teacher one year may be a crummy teacher the next if value-added scores are any guide. Surely we can understand teachers' squeamishness about value-added models as the main basis for individual compensation and even termination decisions. We certainly have to improve how we evaluate and support teachers. We have a lot to do on that score.

On the front page of today's NYT you will find more evidence about the need for caution in using once-a-year standardized achievement tests (even with value-added methods) to summarily judge both students and teachers. The author notes, "the rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities — and the federal mandate — to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil." This does not mean we do not use standardized measures as part of a range of indicators but a simple multiple-choice test and the tools most economists are using to determine value-added effects do not come close to capturing the complexity of children's lives and the efforts of teachers to educate them. There are schools that are now serving far more homeless kids than ever before - wreaking havoc on the statistical formula researchers use.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/education/06homeless.html

I have taught in an inner city school for 20 years, working with students of unbelievable poverty ($10k yearly home income). Because I have worked so hard and offered my students so much, they have done well, going to college and becoming successful employees. It has taken its toll, though, and I cannot do it any longer. This will be my last year. Electives are being cut every year because the students must take two math and two English classes so as to be able to pass the state's high stakes exit exam. I can no longer compete.

My school is on a good area but still, there are many children from lower aconomy level.. hard..

We should change our concepts of poverty and transform temporary relief into a long-term social welfare program so that more families can benefit. Learn more Poverty guidelines, from ctmea.org.

Barnett--Thanks for the citation. The study's authors explicitly draw the same conclusion you do. Effectiveness can really rub off, so any evaluation models should promote--or at the very least not discourage--collaboration.