Teacher Evaluations Based on Student Performance

Prompted by the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program, teachers in more than a dozen states in the U.S. will soon be evaluated in part on the test scores of their students, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. The districts will use formulas that compare what students would be expected to score on a test – given past performance and outside factors like income and race – with their actual scores to estimate the influence of their teachers. 

The results will be used to determine whether teachers receive incentives such as tenure or bonuses. While teachers unions argue that the measures are inaccurate and narrow, supporters assert that their use will improve student learning by holding teachers accountable for performance.