On average, NC teachers are way above average

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The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released Educator
Effectiveness Data for the 2011-12 and 2010-11 school years.  The data indicates that nearly all of North
Carolina’s teachers are above average.  Phew. 
What a relief!

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CommenTerry

The NC
Department of Public Instruction implemented a new teacher evaluation system
two years ago. State education officials released data for the 2010-11 school
year in January 2012.   On Monday, they
released educator effectiveness data for the 2011-12 school year. 

After the state
released the first year of evaluation data, I was unusually optimistic about
their efforts to evaluate teachers and administrators in a comprehensive way.  Last year, I wrote that "the folks at the NC
Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) deserve ‘thumbs up’ for their effort
to increase transparency and accountability in the critical areas of teacher
and administrator quality."  After
examining this year’s results, however, I am less enthusiastic about the
effort.

Just to review, the system
requires school administrators to evaluate five components of teaching —
leadership, commitment to diversity/fairness, content knowledge, instructional
abilities, and self-reflection.  Next
year’s results will include a critical sixth standard — academic performance.  It should also be noted that the 2010-11 results are not comparable to
the 2011-12 data.  During the 2010-11
school year, mostly new teachers received evaluations.  Last year, all teachers were evaluated.

School administrators rated
teachers in each area according to a five-category scale — not demonstrated
(lowest), developing, proficient, accomplished, and distinguished (highest).  Statewide,
most teachers in the state fell in the "proficient" or "accomplished"
categories for the five standards evaluated. 
In fact, only 45 of North Carolina’s public school teachers received the
lowest rating in the instructional category, also known as Standard 4.  According to the state evaluation
system, just over 2,000 of North Carolina’s teachers are below average (not demonstrated
and developing) "learning facilitators."   On the
other hand, nearly 8,000 teachers earned the highest rating in that category.  That makes for one funny looking bell curve.

NC DPI officials insist that the
ratings system is a "growth instrument," but the public will
invariably compare the ratings to annual outcome measures like test scores and
graduation rates.  Enfield Middle School
in Halifax County is one of the lowest performing schools in the state.  Last year, only 43 percent of the students in
the school scored at the proficient or above level on state end-of-grade
tests. 

Yet, the evaluation system
reported that 46 percent of the teachers were proficient instructors and another
29 percent were accomplished teachers. 
In other words, 75 percent of the teachers received an average or above
average rating on Standard 4 (facilitate learning for their students) of
the evaluation system.  A school with
such a highly rated teacher workforce should not produce such low pass rates.

Not one teacher at Enfield Middle School received the lowest
rating on any of the five standards.  In
fact, not one teacher employed by the Halifax County Schools, arguably the
state’s most troubled district, earned the lowest rating on any of the five
standards.  According to the state, only
10.4 percent of teachers in Halifax County are below average educators.

I hope that the inclusion of academic performance measures
in next year’s NC Educator Evaluation System results will produce a more accurate
(and nuanced) representation of teacher quality in the state. If you ask me,
the only thing more calamitous than a bad teacher is some one or some thing
that reinforces the belief that "there is no such thing as a bad teacher." 

Facts and Stats

North Carolina Teacher Effectiveness Data for the 2011-12 School Year

Source: NC Department of
Public Instruction, North Carolina Educator Effectiveness Data

Education Acronym
of the Week

NCEES — NC Educator Evaluation System

Quote of the Week

"The NC Educator Evaluation System is a growth
instrument, which measures knowledge, skills and dispositions of teachers and
administrators as they move from developing to distinguished educators. 
For example, the majority of schools and districts will not initially reflect a
"distinguished" designation, but over time, parents and community
members can see how improvement is happening at their school and in their
district."

– NC Department of Public Instruction press release, "Public
Reports on Educators Effectiveness Released," May 6, 2013.

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Update archive.