Georgia to start grading teachers on "value" added

Should parents know how well their children’s teachers score on effectiveness scales?

Using its federal Race to the Top grant, Georgia will start grading teachers in part on how much “value” they have added to a student’s learning, based on progress reflected in test scores.

“For teacher effectiveness measure, 50% will be based on the academic growth of students,” said Erin Hames, chief of staff at the Georgia Department of Education and the coordinator of the state’s Race to the Top efforts. But while parents will be able get the average teacher effectiveness scores for a school, they will not be privy to individual job ratings, says Hames.

Read more in this opinion piece by Maureen Downey in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution online.