{"id":1248,"date":"2012-05-14T11:01:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T15:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coreeducationllc.com\/blog2\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2012-05-14T11:01:14","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T15:01:14","slug":"the-allure-of-teacher-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coreeducationllc.com\/blog2\/the-allure-of-teacher-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Allure of Teacher Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a recent post for the Shanker Blog, Matthew Di Carlo discusses the current policy focus on teacher quality as a way to improve schools.\u00a0 He observes that \u201csome (but not nearly all) components of this all-hands-on-deck effort are perplexing to the many teachers, and have generated quite a bit of pushback\u2026what drives it is the tantalizing allure of variation in teacher quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief overview of the literature on this subject, Di Carlo admits that the differences in student performance between those that have \u201ctop\u201d teachers and those that have \u201cbottom\u201d teachers is pretty compelling.\u00a0 However, he does not think that, if it is true, this knowledge alone helps anything.\u00a0 He argues that the key question policymakers and researchers should be focusing on is \u201cwhether and how we can measure teacher performance at the individual level and, more importantly, influence the distribution\u2014that is, to raise the ceiling, the middle and\/or the floor.\u201d\u00a0 Rather than focusing on this, we are instead putting most of our effort into designing new teacher evaluation systems that attempt to measure \u201ctrue\u201d teacher quality in a valid and reliable manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seductive variation in teacher performance, coupled with the inadequacy of current evaluation systems in many places, has compelled some (but not all) states and districts to rush ahead with this process without field testing, and to begin using their new evaluations in high-stakes decisions, including termination.\u201d\u00a0 This, in spite of the fact that there is no real proof that these new systems will improve outcomes.<\/p>\n

According to Di Carlo, the current spate of tactics used to inform decisions about professional development, teacher benefits, teacher certification, etc., are all tied to the assumed variation in teacher quality.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n