There is no amorphous education “system” that does not have teacher evaluation and retention at its core. Reforms like IMPACT in DC and benching bad teachers in Newark are systemic. And as Newark’s experience proves, if you’re missing a critical piece like being able to terminate a tenured educator for cause, the system keeps performing badly.
Chris Tessone of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, explaining why arguments against overhauling teacher evaluations such as those advanced by David Cohen simply lead to the continuation of systemic failure.
One of our great national failings in the discussion about teacher evaluation is that we consistently allow ourselves to be derailed through the lofty and unattainable concept of the perfect system. The reality, of course, is that evaluation in every field is imperfect. The quest is not to create a perfect system. The quest is to create the best possible system, and to continue to reflect on and refine that system over time.
Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, in testimony to the federal House Education and the Workforce Committee, about the penchant of those opposed to reforming teacher quality to push for the perfect ideal (and utterly unrealistic) at the expense of the best.