Matthew Steinberg says Democratic platform misses the mark on teacher evaluations
As part of its platform, the Democratic Party announced its opposition to the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers and principals.
As reported by education news outlet The 74, the platform includes: “We oppose … the use of student test scores in teacher and principal evaluations, a practice which has been repeatedly rejected by researchers.”
Penn GSE’s Matthew Steinberg told The 74 the platform language is not in line with the latest research.
“I do not think that there is universal consensus to support that platform,” Steinberg told The 74.
“There are multiple pieces of information that we can use — from student test score information, from classroom observation scores, from student surveys — to build multiple measure teacher evaluation systems that provide information to improve teacher practice, identify areas of instructional need, and to some extent make high-stakes accountability decisions in terms of differentiating teacher effectiveness.”