28 May 2014

Dear
As the legislature breaks for summer, I would like to take this time to encourage you to research !"s
and the #alue Added Model$ As a teacher and a %arent, I agree that teachers need to be e&aluated to
determine their effecti&eness' howe&er, our current methods of doing so are flawed, and these measures
are su%%osed to be fully im%lemented in the 201()201* school year, which means that ne+t year,s test
scores will be used for those %ur%oses$
he %roblem with this is that the current standards for measuring a teacher,s im%act on student
%erformance has not been %ro&en &alid$ In fact, in a recent re%ort, the American -tatistical Association
said that teachers account for only .1 to 14 %ercent of the &ariability in student test scores/ and that .the
ma0ority of &ariation in test scores is attributable to factors outside of the teacher,s control such as student
and family background, %o&erty, curriculum, and unmeasured influences/' yet 1(2 of 3klahoma
teachers, e&aluations are going to be based off of these test scores$
I acknowledge that 3-D" is trying to account for these elements by com%aring a student to his4her %eer
a&erage by looking at students, scores from similar backgrounds' howe&er, 3-D" also acknowledges that
cohort)to)cohort com%arisons are not a true reflection of student growth or the teacher,s im%act on the
student' yet e&en in com%aring one student to a s%ecific grou% of %eers, we are still making a cohort)to)
cohort com%arison and not taking into consideration the fact that some students mature and learn at
different rates than other students, so that while they may not ha&e shown growth at the same le&el as a
member of their %eer grou%, they may ha&e still shown significant growth for themsel&es$
I understand that states are in a bind because their 56!7 wai&ers are linked to these e&aluation systems'
howe&er, the De%artment of "ducation has said that it .will grant some states wai&ers e&en if their
e&aluation systems aren,t yet acce%table$/ hat doesn,t mean to go ahead and hold teachers accountable
to faulty &alue)added models, but to slow down and find a means of e&aluating teachers, im%act on
students that is &alid and fair$
I think it is %aramount that 3klahoma take a ste% back and find a more reliable means of establishing
teacher,s influence on student growth, and while doing so, refrain from holding teachers accountable
through the full im%lementation of system that is flawed$
hank you for time and your consideration of this issue$
-incerely,
8ebekah Askew
21( 5$ Mc6loud
6laremore, 39 :401: