(Not really a) LETTER TO EMPLOYEES

from not yet lausd | http://bit.ly/AuJxuk

part of the ®eform inc. group of companies - “Corporations are People too!”

not yet, 20--

Dear employees of LAUSD,

As an ongoing effort to improve student outcomes we are coming up with a new evaluation approach that helps to clearly identify teacher strengths and areas for improvement.  There are multiple components to this evaluation system, some are ready now and some will be ready, eventually.

The main part is not ready yet but, is tied directly to California State Teacher Standards.  Currently you have to be brain dead or have really pissed off your principal to get a bad evaluation on your “Stull.”  Our new measurement system will look at a lot more factors and leave a wider range of rankings that can lead to direct actionable steps.  Currently this system is under development and will slowly be getting rolled out to a few pilot schools and then to the whole district, we’ll be adding to it as we go along. 

Another part of the evaluation that is ready to go is our Adjusted Growth Overtime model that will calculate your effectiveness based on CST scores.  AGT will provide a number ranking for you from roughly 1 to 5, with 5 being the best and anything above 3 is tolerable.    If your score is between 1 and 2, you shouldn’t feel bad.  Ten percent of teachers must be between 1 or 2 to meet the demands of the bell curve, this doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.  For those teachers less than a 4, don’t feel bad, only 10% of teacher are allowed to be excellent or we would break the bell curve.  AG(O)T  accounts for things like race, poverty, previous performance and gives you points for teaching poor Black and Hispanic kids while removing points for teaching rich Whites and Asians.  (Seriously …someone is going to get mad about these historical inequalities and call us racist as if we’re the mayor’s office that can actually set policies to address the underlying causes!)

Because we are releasing AG(O)T before any other metrics and because we have no idea how we are going to properly execute our other evaluation methods, you should know your AG(O)T number does not define you.  As more methods of evaluation come online, “It gets better”  (gay campaign phrasing appropriate?).  If you feel like there is undo pressure because of your ranking, LAUSD is not a Chinese tech factory, we have an 800 number you can call (get assistant to look up number).        We will have PowerPoints and videos for you to watch about how all this AG(O)T  stuff works …btw brush up on your knowledge of Oak Trees.

Thank you for all of your hard work.  I know I could never do your job, definitely not at your pay grade, and with those kids.  We understand you work hard and we want you to be successful doing what you love.  Our multiple ways to see if you’re being effective at raising student test scores will only help you.  Please remember why we all got started in education: to raise  APIs!

Sincerely,

notyet LAUSD

 

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