Houston Superintendent Terry Grier’s plan to link value-added student test scores to teacher evaluation and dismissal decisions drew attention when he proposed it early this year. Now, the school board has unanimously agreed. Starting next year, teachers in core subjects in grades three through eight will have their evaluations based in part on the same value-added data system that has been informing HISD’s merit pay program (but nothing else) for the last three years. If they’re not up to snuff, teachers may lose their jobs; about 3 percent of the district’s 13,000 teachers are at risk for failing to advance student achievement multiple years in a row. Grier made a name for himself with a flexible union contract as supe in Guilford County, NC; is the overhaul of teacher evaluations his next crusade? We hope so.
“HISD passes teacher dismissal plan,” by Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle, February 12, 2010