So what IS a fair evaluation system for teachers?

[mike_c]

43. as a career educator I can tell you that we STILL wrestle with that question....

Frankly, much of what education provides is difficult to quantify. My own experience is an excellent case in point. I NEVER advanced beyond 10th grade-- 8th grade in core subjects like mathematics and English-- and consistently failed nearly every test and homework assignment I was given from the fifth grade on, mostly from apathy. By any objective measure I was a horrible student and my teachers were utterly unsuccessful.

Yet, years later, I walked into a nighttime GED exam with no prior preparation, took the two day exam in one sitting, enrolled in a community college, and ten years later began a career in academic science with a doctorate and a bright shiny assistant professorship.

My point is that the success or failure of education is largely determined by students, not teachers or administrators. Any measure of student success that we use to evaluate teachers must acknowledge the extent to which teachers are powerless to direct the outcome, and must measure their influence in ways that are completely non-intuitive at the time. Education isn't something one delivers-- it is a lifelong process that students choose to engage in, or don't.