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Sri Vattikuti
Hitt
Pre AP English II - 2nd Period
8 October 2020

Should Teachers Be Graded?
What is a teacher? A teacher is someone who aids students in acquiring knowledge. This means teachers should be skillful in explaining topics and answering students' questions in an understandable manner. However, what if I were to tell you, not all teachers are teaching extraordinaires? What if, instead, I told you that some of them are shockingly detrimental to the academic success of students like me? Well believe it or not, it’s true. While a few teachers may be exceptional educators, others, well, not so much. Teachers would highly benefit from being able to receive feedback from their students as they would clearly be able to see where they can improve upon. A teacher grading system should be implemented as it can help both students who are struggling due to the incompetence of their teachers, aid teachers in receiving proper feedback from their students, and it can help administrators see the performances of teachers.
I remember my 8th grade English teacher. She was interesting, to say the least. We would receive classwork and homework, but nothing would correlate with the material we were tested over. Other times, she would teach incorrect information, forcing me and my peers to go home and relearn the correct curriculum. If anyone questioned her knowledge or what she was teaching, she would immediately shut them down and say that “she’s the teacher, not them”. One day I remember in utmost clarity was when we were told to read the book “The Testing,” by Joelle Charbonneau, as we would be tested over it later in the year. We were told the exam would be covering the plot elements of the story. However, the test focused on the most miniscule of details. The most unnecessary, irrelevant, trivial, extraneous of details. I promise you one of the questions asked for which color dress the main character wore in the first chapter of the story. But wait, the clincher of it all was that no one could remember anything as we took the test 4. Months. Later. That’s right! That “later in the year” I mentioned was actually 4 months after! As you would predict, everyone in my class did oh-so poorly. But this type of case occurred time and time again, it wasn’t just once. Although my personal experience with one of my sub-par teachers is a more extreme case, it still exemplifies how a teacher’s inability to educate can devastatingly affect multiple students’ academic performance. In this instance, it was my teacher’s inability to communicate with her students that led to the class’s failure. If there had been a way we could give her feedback without directly talking to her, she would have been able to realize that our poor grades were a reflection of her unskilled pedagogy. Through a teacher grading system, teachers would easily be able to see where they need to improve, therefore, allowing the students to be successful.
In Farhad Manjoo’s article “Grading teachers, With Data From Class,” Manjoo interviews Ms. Campbell, a teacher who participated in Panorama Education’s teacher feedback survey. After reviewing the results from her students, Campbells states that “‘[she] wasn’t scoring where [she] wanted to with questions like ‘I feel comfortable asking my teacher for help’ or ‘My teacher really cares about me.’ She continued to talk about how she “was below average’” and how she “‘[didn’t] want to be below average.” By receiving feedback from her students, Campbell was able to see where she could improve, enabling her to shift her classroom manner in order to be more successful in helping her students. Campbell began telling her students more about herself, resulting in them being more comfortable around their teacher. After taking the survey multiple times over the course of the year, she was able to see an immense improvement in her results. At the end of her interview, Ms. Campbell justifies how “‘the surveys have been transformational in the way she operates’” and that she’s “grown tremendously from [the] data.” By utilizing a teacher grading system, Campbell was able to create a better learning environment for her students. Many other teachers would be able to improve themselves through the use of a system such as the one Campbell used with her students. Depending on the results from the survey, each teacher would be able to find their own weaknesses and strengths. This kind of proper feedback would ensure the growth of their students.
In order to be able to teach, educators must earn certifications and satisfactory test-scores. However, Thomas Kane, a professor of education and economics at Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that using on-job performance rather than the pre-hire criteria, certifications, test scores, and training camps, to hire teachers would most likely better benefit both the district and the students. In Ashley Pettus’s article in the Harvard Magazine, “Grading Teachers,” Pettus examines a study done by The National Bureau of Economic Research testing the classroom impact of teachers. The authors of the study, Thomas Kane, Jonah Rockoff, and Douglas Staiger, found that “other academic credentials, such as selectivity of undergraduate institutions or grade-point average, also proved to be poor predictors of a teacher's classroom impact.” The study also finds “teachers vary considerably in the extent to which they promote student learning, but whether a teacher is certified or not is largely irrelevant to predicting their effectiveness.” This study highlights how an educators effectiveness cannot be determined solely by their credentials. Instead, teachers should be graded on their ability to teach in class. Students would give their feedback on how well the teacher is able to transfer their knowledge onto their pupils. Moreover, the study explains that “that 73 percent of new hires were uncertified in both elementary and high schools in the lowest deciles [percentiles] of pass-rates.” Although the hired teachers had all the necessary credentials, they were not able to efficiently teach their students. A teacher’s merits do not replace experience and most definitely should not be the only criterion for hiring. A person who is being considered for hiring should be given a trial where students can give feedback on where they can improve through a teacher grading system. I experienced this myself four years ago, when I was in the 6th grade. I had a science teacher who was known for his exceptional knowledge of various subjects. Not only was he terrific at science, but he was also a splendid mathematician. However, not a single one of his students were able to score well on not only his own tests, but even state-mandated exams. This was because, although he was extremely intelligent, he was not efficacious in being able to pass on that knowledge to his students. If the district were to hire him on his ability to teach instead of his credentials and his own knowledge, more students would have been able to succeed. Even though a teacher may have impressive credentials, this does not mean they have the ability to pass on that information successfully to their pupils. A teacher grading system can allow employers to see how effectively a teacher performs.
On the other hand, there are also many other viewpoints against the idea of implementing a teacher grading system. Some believe that these surveys would not be effective as students’ limited knowledge of pedagogy will hinder their ability to correctly gauge their teachers. However, in John Mooney’s article “Should Students Grade Their Teachers,” Mooney discusses the Measures for Effective Teaching (MET) research project, conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The MET study suggests evaluating teachers based on both classroom observation, which would be the student feedback from surveys as well as student achievement. This study shows how student feedback can be effective regardless of the students who do not honestly fill out the surveys, as the results of the inquiry do not solely rely on the kids' responses. Although it is not a good idea to solely rely on student surveys, it is beneficial to take them into account when assessing a teacher. Disregarding students's feedback about teachers would be as if performing an experiment and not examining the results. Another misconception is that students who do not earnestly fill out these surveys will impede the results. Nevertheless, the majority of students will honestly complete the enquiries. Principal of Alexandria Middle School, Mr. Palowski, explains how “If 70 percent of the students say that not every kid is treated fairly, that is certainly something to reflect upon.” Palowski’s experience with the surveys highlights how a few students’s irrelevant answers do not affect the results. Teachers will be able to accurately see where they need to improve regardless of the purposeless responses. Overall, even if there are students who do not accurately fill out the surveys, those who do, can greatly impact an educator’s manner of teaching.
In conclusion, implementing a teacher grading system can be beneficial in many ways. Not only will it help students, but it will also help teachers receive feedback of their strengths and weaknesses and the ratings of schools/districts. This system can greatly impact a student’s academic success in a beneficial way, which is the final goal of the education system. As of today, only a few districts utilize this method. My dream is that every school, in every district, in every state will be able to implement a teacher grading system. I ask both students and teachers to push this ideology further and make this a reality by going to Change.org, searching for the petition titled “Students Should Be Allowed To Grade Teachers,” by Sri Vattikuti, and signing it now!

Works Cited
Farhad Manjoo. “Grading Teachers, With Data From Class.” The New York Times,
3 Sept. 2014 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/technology/students-grade-teachers-and-a-start-up-harnesses-the-data.html

Tucker, Keiahna. “Should Students Be Allowed To Grade Their Teachers?” Dobie News,
20 Dec. 2018, https://dobienews.scuc.txed.net/15044/student-life/should-students-be-allowed-to-grade-their-teachers/

Mooney, John. “Should Students Grade Their Teachers?” The Hechinger Report, 30 Mar. 2020. https://hechingerreport.org/should-students-grade-their-teachers/

Pettus, Ashley. “Grading Teachers.” Harvard Magazine,
3 Jan. 2017. harvardmagazine.com/2006/11/grading-teachers.

Kane, Thomas. “What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness” Nber Working
Paper Series, NBER, 2006, www.nber.org/papers/w12155.pdf.
     
 
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