Meet L.A.'s most effective teachers -- and find out how your child's teacher performs

The Los Angeles Unified School District has hundreds of Jaime Escalantes -- teachers who preside over remarkable successes, year after year, often against incredible odds, according to a Times analysis. But nobody is making a film about them.

Most are like Zenaida Tan, working in obscurity. No one asks them their secrets. Most of the time, no one even says, "Good job."

Frequently, even their own colleagues and principals don't know who they are.

As part of an effort to shed light on the work of Los Angeles teachers, The Times on Sunday is releasing a database of roughly 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers, ranked by their effectiveness in raising students' scores on standardized tests of math and English over a seven-year period.

The findings are based on an approach called value-added analysis, which is designed to allow fair comparisons of teachers whose students have widely varying backgrounds. Although controversial, the method increasingly has been adopted across the nation to measure the progress students make under different instructors.

L.A. Unified has had the underlying data for years but has chosen not to analyze it in this way, partly in anticipation of union opposition. After The Times' initial report this month showed wide disparities among elementary school teachers, even in the same schools, the district moved to use value-added analysis to guide teacher training and began discussions with the teachers union about incorporating data on student progress into teacher evaluations.

Read more here.

-- Jason Felch

Photo: Zenaida Tan brims with innovative ways to reach limited-English students, handle discipline problems and keep the kids engaged. “I do a lot of singing, games,” says the teacher, seen in May at a San Fernando school. Many of her students are immigrants like her. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

MORE ON THE TIMES SERIES

• Value-added database
• Top 100 "value-added" teachers
• Fans of Tan
• Full Coverage: Grading the Teachers
• How The Times built teacher effectiveness database

Comments

[ESChica]

Please LA Times, publish information stating when these teachers were hired, and (if possible), why some of the most effective teachers vanished from the radar in recent years. Were they victims of lay-offs? That's the real story, IMO!!

[A concerned parent]

As I look for my children's teachers, I find an awkward feeling run through my body, such as a peeping tom with a conscience might feel when looking at people through a window without their knowledge- there is something obscene and totally wrong about this whole process and I think the LA Times should feel ashamed about publishing this article along with teacher's data.

After reading through some of the comments of those who teach and others who just give comments, I can't help but feel that this is a totally wrong way to go about reforming our education system. In the end, I stopped and think I prefer using my human senses and intuition to figure out who or which teacher is best suited for my child. Besides, we can't even often pick our children's teachers, nor should we necessarily.

I like getting to know my child's teachers and sure I want the best one for them, but does it mean the best at raising scores on a chart or the best who may help raise the scores, but also focuses on the whole child and other factors that CANNOT BE MEASURED on test. One who may be better at interpersonal communication and reading my child's needs, not just in reading and math, but in life.

I think there is far more to what a teacher does with each child, and tests are only a small measure when you have so many factors that can contribute to a child's score -- most importantly, myself -- the parent. Where is the reporting about parents? I actually feel that more should be written about parents because teachers don't seem to get to pick their students, yet we want to be able to pick our teachers? This seems contradictory, doesn't it?

I would feel terrible if the teacher I wanted for my child didn't want my child in their classroom. And this may happen if we use test data all the time. Teachers may only want those students who they know they can make test gains with. I can only imagine what the teacher might feel if parents didn't want their children in their classrooms because of this kind of yellow journalism. Maybe this is what it is since readership in newspapers is far down. I don't know for sure... but it seems like the reporting has been stretching for news the past few years.

As I said, there is something eerily wrong about this process and I think our children's teachers deserve far more for what they do than using a simple measure to evaluate them. We need to do more to support our children's teachers because I want to best ones in the profession teaching my children and feel that this will deter good minds from coming into the profession.

[Michelle C.]

As a former teacher for LAUSD, I've been following this series closely. I have mixed feelings about value added assessment, but feel teachers should take responsibility for their performance. It is crucial the district follows up with additional measures to grade teachers, however, such as observation, peer review, etc. And the issue of teachers cheating on standardized tests should be addressed.
I want to bring to light two circumstances which have me thinking about another issue the district needs to take a good hard look at: its employment practices.
1) When I left the district and my school to move out of state, I was replaced by a "must place" teacher, who, according to the database, is ranked as the "least effective" teacher at the school. This ranking is not inconsistent with what I know and have heard about this teacher.
2) A former colleague left the district years ago to teach at a charter school, then returned a few years back, only to be laid off recently due to budget cuts and her "lack of seniority." Well, the study has her ranked as the "most effective" teacher at her school, something by which I am not surprised, as I always knew her as an enthusiastic, creative, and dedicated teacher.
So, what I want to know is this: will the district going to look at cases such as these in an effort to revamp their employment practices? My hope is that it will use the value-added assessment and other measures to grade teachers' performance, then actually DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR FINDINGS. Not only do amazing teachers go unnoticed in this district, but so do those just "phoning it in."

[high achiever parent]

Not surprisingly a teacher from my child's elementary school who had a decades-long terrible reputation scored dead last in 'effectiveness' among her colleagues. I would not judge all teachers by solely these or any other single set of scores, but for all the years this woman was teaching (she retired last year) there were many, many indicators of her incompetence, yet nothing was done to remove her from the classroom. If these scores had had any weight at all, perhaps hundreds of students would have had a better experience in thier foundational years of school. UTLA has fought hard to keep effectiveness indicators out of evaluations, but effectiveness is all that matters in the classroom. Teachers who can't/don't/won't teach have to be shown the door. As a group they refuse anonymous peer review, open evaluating programs, parent comments and student achievement. Years of service can't be the only reeason a teacher gets a paycheck. Thank you, LA Times, for making this point.

[Tracie Schlick]

I have been teaching fifth grade for 9 years in South Los Angeles. I looked myself up and saw I was a "less effective teacher". My heart sank as my children are my life. Generally, I take on the high-risk students. This means my children are academically low when they come to me. I cannot help that. I do my best to teach them and love them and help them. I have taught 5th graders to read. I have rejoiced with my students when they read ten more words on their fluency testing, even though they didn't meet benchmark. I have tried many different ways to teach math and when one way didn't work, I'd try another. However, many of my students arrive to me without simple and basic math facts, so I have to do a lot of catch up before I can teach Algebra or even long division.

To see that I was "least and less effective" as a teacher was a shock to me. I know that my students are low, I read and re-read their data in order to figure out exactly what they need. I am heartbroken and embarrassed. My name is up there in this horrible light, and yet NO ONE has been in my classrooms. No one from L.A Times was at my door knocking and asking if they could see my students and what I have to deal with on a daily basis.

I work hard. I take my students' achievements and failures to heart. They are my life. Yes, I get frustrated and irritated, but I'm human. My children come to me well below grade level, many don't speak English well (last year I had 4 children who spoke NO English). My students are ELD levels 1-3....in 5th grade! We have behavioral issues that no one knows about. One of these years that I was "graded", I was on maternity leave for 7 months (2008-2009). I know my class did poorly that year. I cannot help that, I was not there.

I think this is a horrible thing to do to hard working teachers. Subscribers who read this won't know the true story, they'll only see the "grade". I, myself, was shocked of some of the teachers who were graded better than I. Quite frankly, I've had their students in 5th grade and their students lacked simple skills. Even so, those teachers were more effective than myself. Okay.

I love my students, I teach to the CA Standards and I differentiate my teaching. If my students are testing poorly, it's not because they aren't capable of passing. They simply cannot read the test in a fluent manner. Their reading skills and comprehension skills are very low. I help them with that and they do grow, but the tests are written on a much higher level than I think most of my children can comprehend.

I am not a least effective teacher. I am a good teacher. I take pride in my career. I take pride in my children. I know who I am. I know what I do. I know how I've effected my students. How do I know? -Because they come back to visit me years later to tell me.

Thank you.

[Kenneth M]

Bravo, LA Times. The information that is gleaned from this evaluation process is undoubtedly not perfect, but making perfect the enemy of good, is not a reasonable reason to IGNORE what is clearly valuable info. It is also clear that without this sort of "outing"....not of the teachers, but of the process, no progress was going to happen. The teachers, the unions, even the district, could have initiated these looks...but they did not. So, they've given up their position of outrage over progress, because they didn't support any.
Who has paid for all this, all these years? The children, who will suffer lifelong scars from teachers, unions, and districts who settled for "good enough for gov't work". And shame on all of those who chose that course.

[ARD]

High stakes tests, in most arenas, are designed to generate data in one specified area, or at most two. The California Standards Tests (CST’s) were designed to simply inform teachers of their strengths and weaknesses regarding their ability to teach course content learning standards and serve as a measurement of student progress to rank a school’s instructional program. With this in mind, it would seem wildly irresponsible to measure overall teacher effectiveness, overall student progress, and overall school achievement with this single assessment tool. The rationale to abruptly ramrod this misused test down the throats of teachers, therefore, appears to have less to do with improving student learning and more to do with the politics of destroying teacher job protections. With 40% of California’s general fund earmarked for education, and about 80% of those public education funds tied to teachers salaries, an argument can be made that teacher seniority and experience in the classroom – which result in higher salaries – are moot if tests scores reveal little relation between experience and higher tests scores. Thus, pinning teacher evaluation and retention to results on a test never designed to grade teachers seems like a nice way to smear teachers, smear teacher protections, crush teacher unions, and ruin a critical profession for at least a generation. Also, isn't it interesting in recent articles that the Times used and older white teacher to demonstrate low performance regarding the use of value-added analysis, but chooses a younger Latino teacher to highlight high performance. In addition, their photos show a black female principal overseeing a veteran white female teacher (a highly-regarded National Board-certified teacher, no less) who was "underperforming" in preparing her students for success on the CST. The principal, who never had to undergo any "value-added" measurement gauntlet, is cited as saying she has identified "about eight teachers" she has tabbed for termination via the use and application of this data. The Times', and their smug and ill-advised showboating concerning the use of this data, will come back to haunt them. With chests out and smiles on their faces, they are revealing their sad understanding of the real mechanics behind classroom instruction, while exposing their blind allegiance to corporate pirates that want to dismantle protections for our dedicated foot soldier teachers that serve duty in the challenging and often-depressing arena that is LAUSD public schools. You are hitting teachers when they’re down, and gut-punching the older teachers that stick around. The Times' are carrying the wrong spit bucket, and their misguided gotcha journalism is going to ruin the public teaching profession for a generation. Nice job!

[Tracie Schlick]

I have to add that if I will be graded like this, parents should be graded as well. Two years ago (2008-2009) I had 4 parents show up for Back to School Night. Four. Out of 30.

During parent conference nights, I'm lucky if half of my parents show up. Last year (2010) 20 out of 30 parents shouldn't up. I was excited!

I can't remember a conference I've missed for my own child. Oh wait, I haven't. She attends LAUSD schools as well.

This site may say I'm "less effective" but that's just their opinion. The CST is a week out of a full year. They don't take into account that the CST is at the end of the year where many 5th graders have already "checked out". They simply don't care.

This year (2010) wasn't taken into consideration for this data ( I don't know why), but the 5th grade at my school went up 15% from 2009. I am very proud of that because this year we took a different approach and really pushed the test. I guess it worked.

But shouldn't education be about learning and not just a score on a test?

[Wait a Minute]

When I first started teaching in 2001, there was hardly any focus on the tests. It was just something you did. My school was 200 points lower in their API that year than this year. We were pretty low.

Around 2006, testing was being pushed more at my school. It was all about the test, and standards. But the children were more AWARE of the test earlier in the year. They understood why they had to take it.

I wish last year was on these evaluations. We pushed the test starting in January and made it important to the children and it showed in our scores.

So...to go back to 2002 is somewhat wrong, in my opinion. Our principal didn't even give us test practice until the week before the test! Now, we get it in January and practice test taking skills everyday.

I just don't see how someone can say I'm less effective based on tests that weren't even considered important until a couple years ago.

Shame on them.

[LAUSD employee]

Although I am sure the majority of the 100 top ranked effective teachers are hard working and honest, I know that at least one of those listed teachers was investigated for "testing irregularities" in the past. It just makes me question the validity of the test itself and the integrity of those administering it fairly across the school and across the district. If we are going to put this much emphasis on a single measure and call out teachers as most and least "effective" , then I am afraid that it will open up the possibility for further "testing irregularities."

[LAUSD Mom]

Now I feel sorry for all of my sons' teachers. Even though they were identified gifted students, they refused to take the standardized tests given to them seriously. One of my sons even confessed that he chose to make designs on the answer sheet during one of the tests he took. All of them have told me that they believed that the tests were a waste of time and didn't really measure what they had learned in class. No, they did not grow up to be juvenile delinquents. They are all very honest, law abiding young men who are now attending college.

[Eric C.]

This is good information to be published. If you are a less effective or least effective this should definitely be used in what teachers are allowed to stay and whose allowed to go when it comes to job cuts. Why should our children suffer from ineffective teaching techniques by people who have just been there longer verse teachers that are using techniques that work.

Also, to the teachers making excuses that I try so hard but look at the kids I am dealing with! You are part of the problem. Put your ego away, and admit that maybe you just aren't ready for teaching less equipped students. Try teaching easier classes where you can work on your teaching techniques and still get good results. Otherwise the students who really need help the most will always be getting the least out of school.

[The-Best]

hello as imortent a teacher is in teaching as of imporence and high revlence ther is in the studentce ablity to learn. In short and sweet contence. No in the world should be expeted to do the teaching and the lering. As the chart showed some teacheres excealed in teaching math wile others did not do all so well in english. But has any one thout that mabe the students of theses stuednt wer the ones that had a harder time with the differnet miteral in question I fully undersand the high fustration of pernt but please lets not take it out on hily educated under payed people that are doing ther part but not getting resalts form second party and yes It is the stuent that shold make the resalts in the class but yes it is the teacher that should pruved the miteral but privding is step one and doing somthis with that is part 2 in short I like to think we are all right but lets look at the hole pitcher andthat is we are only grading one side of a 2 sided paper

[autmom]

As a former GATE teacher who quit to care for an autistic son and then worked tirelessly with my child's school booster club, I can say I know all of the teachers at my child's school on a personal and professional level. To my shock the most outstanding teacher at the school, who had no less than 40 kids last year, received a "Less Effective" score while two of the worst teachers scored at "Most Effective"! What a joke.

Why did the "Most Effective" score the way they did? Because those kids had a fabulous teacher the year prior. Why did the outstanding teacher score lower? Because her test scores were so high the year prior that sadly, children like my own son, tanked on the test and wiped her out in the process.

Did she fail as a teacher? Of course not. My son EXCELLED for his ability and kept up with the other kids throughout the entire year thanks to her. He bombed the test because he is terrified of them. Even testing in another room he could never stay calm enough to not want to bolt and run down the hallway. Despite a week of testing terror, his teacher took him beyond our highest expectations to the point he may no longer need his aid. His portfolio, a true reflection of his work and hers, shows his ability the way a bubble test never will.

Sadly, as much as I love my boy and the other special needs children like him, they will now be the downfall of some of the most amazing teachers out there. In his class 30% of the kids officially had special needs diagnosis but nowhere does this system account for that. I can see the teachers fighting for the best and the brightest kids now. A shame.

[Wait a Minute]

My scores go up every year, but my children do not pass the test. They come to me very, very low. They are not even at grade level but I work with them.

Perhaps before judging, you come and teach for a month. You wouldn't last a day where I work.

[T Boyd]

The value added system has large flaws. Take for instance, my daughter has attended and thrived at a school which boast a consistently 800+ API, but according to the LA Times value added system, it is a less effective school. Please Explain?!?!

[Yes]

I just saw that my daughter's 4th grade teacher, whom we LOVED, received a "less effective" grade. What?! My daughter learned SO MUCH in that class. Things she said she used in 5th grade because that teacher wouldn't help her with them...and her 5th grade teacher got "MORE effective"!

This is a joke. Seriously? Because a teacher can get the kids to pass ONE test, they are MORE or MOST effective?! HA! My daughter learned the most from the "less effective" teacher.

Explain that.

[mimi13]

Bravo! Finally the print media goes back to the good old days when they performed a public service. This series is excellent, performing a vital service for the people of LA. It will affect the future of the society in spurring politicians to make policy changes to SAVE OUR FUTURE, which is OUR KIDS. As they say, a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and these kids are being cheated every day.

[Kenny Oh]

This is just the tip of the analysis and discovery, what about all the other teachers that data is not collected for? If it is not that important to collect data on PE teachers, Art teachers, Music teachers, History teachers etc. then they must not be very important right? So do we just let them slide under the radar? or do we begin to set up a data analysis method for them also, just lay them off since we don't have the money to collect their data and they aren't that important right?

You think you're helping by bringing this Value added research into the news but it is just the same old problem-the education system is not functioning and needs to be eliminated and parents just pay for schooling if they want it-the socialism experiment has failed as far as education goes

[Mike]

Thanks LAT for publishing these scores. Given the high value society places on test scores, I will STOP teaching the non-tested subjects like HISTORY, ART, MUSIC, WRITING, and PHYSICAL EDUCATION. Since science is tested in 5th grade but only counts for a small percentage of the API, I will stop teaching SCIENCE too. LAT, thanks for making my life easier!

[justamom]

If Value Added methodology uses test scores, as opposed to test results, it is an inaccurate form of assessment. An example: my daughter earned a 600 on her Math CST in 3rd grade. In 4th grade she earned a 459. Now, was the 4th grade teacher completely ineffective? No, because if you look on the reverse side of each individual test report, you can find the actual number of questions answered correctly and, using the percentages given, determine the total number of questions asked. When I did that for my daughter, I found she answered 53 questions correctly out of 55 questions posed.

CST scoring is a bizarre labrynth of throw away questions, weighted questions, etc that do not really reveal much about knowledge gained over the course of a year.

Finally, elementary students are tested in both Language Arts and Math (and sometimes Science), yet teachers have been assigned singular rankings. A teacher may be extremely "effective" in Language Arts and "less effective" in Math, but there does not seem to be any supporting evidence that combining those two ranks gives anyone a more accurate estimate of a teachers abilities.

Much preferable would be to use the curricular assessments that are built in to LAUSD schools, as a way of measuring how students progress under a single teacher throughout a school year.

[Edgar Mosley]

I have read many of the comments about the "Value Added Approach as "one" of the tools to evaluate teachers. Also the Los Angeles Times article "Blowback Critical Of Grading Teachers' Series that supports its position with credible research and answers many questions that opponents have to this approach. After reading the comments I feel the passsion behind them on both sides. The Los Angeles Times Article has definitely put some teachers on on the defensive while other applaud the immediate implications for our students. I am very passionate myself when it comes to this profession. Initially I felt bad for my colleagues who are trusted friends that were rated low and now face public scrutiny. I know many of them are committed and dedicated to this profession. However, Value Added Approach, Soar, CST scores do not measure passion, dedication or committment. While these attributes can definitely have a positive impact, the bottom line is results. These results on CST scores continue to be dismal when compared to what students are capable of academically achieving. It time to stop thinking about how the scores make us look and prepare to adopt any reasonable tool that will help prepare our students for a better future.

[Lisa Traucht]

I am saddened and disgusted by your decision to print the seemingly benign "teacher database." You are behaving like a tabloid newspaper. Are you taking into account where these children live and who they live with? Are you giving a grade to their parents? Are you publishing the amount of sleep the children get each night and are you looking at their nutrition? Do you know if they have abuse histories? Are they being neglected? Have their parents read to them every night before bed? I doubt you are looking at any of these psychosocial factors. It seems you are riding Oprah's coat tails by blaming teachers for everything that is wrong with education. By the way, I feel I have a unique perspective because I am a clinical social worker and my husband is a third grade teacher. I used to work with children who were survivors of domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse.

Everyone loves to point fingers and search for a scapegoat. Just ask the family of the teacher who committed suicide. My hope for them is that they sue the LA times. You are a disgusting newspaper. I am sickened and embarrassed by what you have done. I thought you had integrity.

Why don't you look at the bigger picture? It takes a village to raise children. Children thrive when they are loved, respected, valued and appreciated. They thrive when they have a safe place to sleep at night and nutritious food in their bellies.

One more thing, as a child my test scores were horrible. Despite those test scores I still managed to graduate from college and graduate school. I will admit that I had loving teachers who worked hard for me and believed in me. I also had a very stable home life with two parents who were dedicated to my success.

Bottom line, testing shows very little about what is actually happening in a child's life. Please take a look at your practices. Make up for your blunders. Look into what we all can do to educate our kids, instead of humiliating and embarrassing teachers.

One more thing, the teacher who took his own life most likely had some other things going on with him, however I am VERY doubtful that he would have killed himself had you not publicly shamed him. You could very well have pushed him right over the edge of that bridge. Think about that the next time you decide to post your "database" that's full of misguided and faulty data.

[LAUSD teacher 2]

thank you, concerned parent. your critical thinking skills and compassion are admirable.
is it me or are all these teachers working in primarily middle class or affluent area schools? what does this say about the accuracy of test scores bad teachers? are hired at high need schools or, perhaps the data is dubiously analyzed? oh, that's right. lausd has NOT done much with the scores yet, according to Mr. Cortines--who shrugs this off just like his conflict of interest scandal with Scholastic. this man could pick up a few personal pointers from concerned parent!