All 14 students now read at least at grade level, according to last month's district evaluation.
"The district evaluation looked only at whether he had learning disabilities," said Mary Broadhurst, the lawyer representing the boy.
The generalizability of this single district evaluation could be seen as a limiting factor given that the functioning of a facility is dependent on many facility-specific characteristics, such as the level of skilled staff, skill mix, the infrastructure available and staff motivation [ 53].
Ulrich Boser's report, "Return on Educational Investment: A district-by-district evaluation of productivity," is the first ever attempt to to determine the efficiency of nearly every major school district in the country.
The district's evaluation totals resulted in 10 teachers, or 18percentt, being categorized as highly effective; 33 teachers, or 62percentt, as effective; and 10 teachers, or 18percentt, as ineffective.
"The way that most teachers have been evaluated forever is completely unreliable," said Tim Daly, who leads TNTP, a consulting group that places new teachers and helps districts implement evaluations.
More than 90 percent of districts whose evaluation plans won state approval had plans that included provisions to sunset after a year.
In high-performing schools and districts, teacher evaluation and accountability is often a priority, and is considered a best practice.
But Dr. Fitch-Blanks said the union was otherwise in favor of including Excellence in Teaching in the district's new evaluation system in part because it offered an opportunity to develop a process in which teachers could grow professionally.
There is a public interest in exposing the school district's inadequate evaluation system.
