(2010-08-15) La Times Studying Teacher Effectiveness

The LaTimes has analyzed 7 years of Standardized Test scores from the Los Angeles Public Schools, and found huge variation in teacher effectiveness (using the Value Added method). Highly effective teachers routinely propel students from below grade level to advanced in a single year. There is a substantial gap at year's end between students whose teachers were in the top 10% in effectiveness and the bottom 10%. The fortunate students ranked 17 percentile points higher in English and 25 points higher in math... Although many parents fixate on picking the right school for their child, it matters far more which teacher the child gets. Teachers had three times as much influence on students' academic development as the school they attend. Yet parents have no access to objective information about individual instructors, and they often have little say in which teacher their child gets.

In coming months, The Times will publish a series of articles and a database analyzing individual teachers' effectiveness in the nation's second-largest school district — the first time, experts say, such information has been made public anywhere in the country. In response, Teachers Union leaders are calling on teachers to boycott the Times.

I think Wireless Generation uses Value Added calculations in the districts they work with, but doesn't make the results public.