The Washington Post – Lyndsey Layton
“A new analysis of New York City school data shows that teachers who scored low in the city’s evaluation system are concentrated in struggling schools that tend to serve poor and minority students, while teachers with strong ratings are most likely to be found in schools where students test well and tend to be white and Asian. The analysis, by Families for Excellent Schools, an advocacy group that has been campaigning to expand public charter schools, shows a strong correlation between teacher quality — as measured by the city’s system — and how students perform on standardized tests. “The data shows just how tightly linked student achievement is to teacher quality, and helps lay bare the fault lines of educational inequality in New York City’s schools: race and poverty are the most critical factors for whether you have good teachers in the classroom,” said Khan Shoieb, a spokesman for Families for Excellent Schools.”(more)