Suicide is Painful

 All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars--Peart, Neil 1989

I have this habit of waking up at 5 AM and checking my phone for the latest emails and news. When I clicked on the NY Post app on my phone I saw and read a story about Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, the principal of the Teachers College Community School had killed herself back in April on the same day that someone at her school reported her she had cheated on the standardized tests.

The first thoughts on my mind, as well as condolences, go out to her family and friends. This was a needless, senseless death that never should have been. She is someone's wife, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend, principal, teacher, etc... No one has won here except Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Fariña.

As I lay in bed thinking of this, my thoughts went back five years to a teacher in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas, a teacher that suddenly found himself ineffective due to a Los Angeles Times reporter, Jason Felch becoming the story and not reporting on the story. Rigoberto after he was outed by Felch, committed suicide.

I know there are some out there who no matter what would see this death as some type of vindication towards their goals but I do not. This death if nothing should bring all educators in New York City and New York State closer together and fight as one against the marauders of education in Albany and at Tweed. For whatever Ms Worrell-Breeden has been accused of doing it did not happen in a vacuum and was completely avoidable.

The pressure from Albany as well as from Tweed to more or less tie everyone's job, their pay, their  own self worth to whether or not that person can be the next coming of someone's fantasy teacher that only exists in the movies is an impossible ladder to climb for almost anyone. God only knows what was going through Ms Worrell-Breeden. Not only to allegedly cheat, but worse, once confronted with this information, to jump in front of an oncoming B train and kill herself.

This sick, unrealistic method, test, test, test, punish, punish, terminate, embarrass, ostracize, method of educating children and evaluating teachers must end and end soon or we will have many more Jeanene Worrell-Breeden's.

Last Sunday night we were in Corning NY and had dinner with another couple. The wife, who I won't mention, is very prominent in BATs and the AFT. Both her and her husband on two of the most real people I have ever met in my life. In the many topics of discussion that evening we touched on what teachers need and what can or should be done for them.

There are false prophets seeking false profits preying off the backs of teachers that are down to their last act of strength in fighting back against the same forces that Jeanene Worrell-Breeden was fighting.

What support are they given? "Oh here, this is how you file this." Or, "This is what you do when this happens to you." Maybe they get a, "You need to do this." But this is the simple advice.

Now mind you I am all for fighting back and blowing the whistle. But the trick that I learned so long ago is not everyone when they need to fight back can or wants to.

Sometimes the best thing one can do is just to be there. Someone to be there for that teacher to have a shoulder to cry on, someone for that teacher to vent to, someone for that teacher to divert their mind from their troubles. I doubt Jeanene Worrell-Breeden had someone like this. Or someone who could tell her she could have fought back. But the trick between being supportive and being one who can lead someone to fight is a fine line and one must have the EQ to know what is the difference and which one to use.

Teachers and principals are sick if this. Yeah, I said principals. How about this? Educators are sick of this pressure. If we, not them, but WE, do not start supporting one another the best way we can for each and every educator and stop from projecting our ways of settling old scores onto them we will be just as guilty to their emotional and physical demise as the powers that be in both Albany and Tweed.

False hope needs to end immediately to teachers walking the precipice. The testing pressure, the culture needs to end.

The whistleblower did the right thing. For some reason Ms Worrell-Breeden thought she was doing the right thing. But neither of them are to blame for her death. The people to blame are the ones hiding behind the dollars and the sense of self-importance and self-righteousness they have.

I do not want to hear of anymore educator suicides. Enough is enough.

It will and can get better.

Karma Smacks Los Angeles Times Reporter Jason Felch

Karma usually has a way of coming back and kicking you in the butt. This week Los Angeles Times reporter Jason Felch felt Karma's full wrath.

For those that do not recall, Jason spearheaded a Los Angeles Times report in August of 2010 using data of that funky science of value added measurements to determine who is and isn't an effective teacher. Jason took great pride in doing his part reporting what he saw out of context, but to destroy careers as well.

We here at SBSB soon took great pride in exposing, as well as mocking, Jason Felch and his sidekick, economist Richard Buddin in their use of the funky science as well as the smug glee shown by Jason.

But there was a dark side to all this gloating from Jason. A teacher in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas was determined by Jason Felch and Richard Buddin to be ineffective. A teacher that was loved and respected by his students, their parents, the community he taught in as well as colleagues, friends, and his family.

Due to the reporting of Jason Felch and the funky science provided by Richard Buddin, Rigoberto took his own life shortly after he was outed as determined by the Times and Felch. To this day, Felch has always refused any culpability in Rigoberto's death.

In fact as a source shared with The Crack Team here at SBSB, at a conference about VAM, Anthony Cody confronted Felch about Rigoberto's suicide, Jason as always showed just how classy he is by responding when no one was looking;

"You're  despicable!!! How dare you blame me for that???!!!"

Stay classy Jason.

More from Jason's reporting in 2010 as our source shared with The Crack Team;

Jason totally lied about the purpose of the visit to the school... both to him and to the administrators. They said that they had heard good things about their school and certain teachers, and wanted to see it and write about it.

THE TRUTH: the story and its conclusions were already written. They had identified an older teacher (Smith) with low VAM, and a young teacher with high VAM in the same grade. So they went in and cherry-picked observations that fit the "older teachers suck/younger teachers rule" narrative.

The young Hispanic teacher was the second coming of Jaime Escalante, with descriptions of his dynamic teaching, and enganged students. Smith was describled as having unengaged, apathetic students. Smith said that they were in his room for five minutes tops. The truth was that because Smith was ex-military, he was assigned a tougher group of kids, and Superboy was given the easiest-to-educated kids because he was only in his second of third year. Smith also told me the story his principal had told him about the principal's encounter with the Jason's on their way out. They asked her loaded questions that were designed to get the response, "The young teacher is so great, so much better than the older teacher Smith... " She told Smith that she refused to take the bait, and clarifiied that the makeup of the classes was totally different, for the reasons described above,and it was unfair to compare them. Thus, she was left out of the article. There you have it? "The Anatomy of a Smear."

So why are we discussing Jason Felch today, in 2014? Seems that Jason is in a bit of ethical doo-doo.

In December of 2013, Jason Felch bylined a story about Occidental College and how it failed to report 27 sexual assaults from 2012. Occidental College refuted Felch's story and shared with the Times;

Some were not sexual assaults as defined by the Clery Act. Rather, they involved sexual harassment, inappropriate text messages or other conduct not covered by the act. Other alleged incidents were not reported because they occurred off-campus, beyond the boundaries that Occidental determined were covered by the act. Some occurred in 2011, and the college accounted for them that year.  

As the Times investigated the complaint it found out, through Felch himself, that he was shagging a source that he had been using in this story and others concerning Occidental College. This behavior is unethical and unbecoming a reporter and should bring into question other sources he has used for stories in the past as well as anything he has reported on as well. We here at SBSB call for the Los Angeles Times ombudsman to do a thorough investigation post haste. 

But Karma reared its head and this past Friday, March 14, 2014, Jason Felch was terminated by the Los Angeles Times. Times Editor Davan Maharaj said;

 "the inappropriate relationship with a source and the failure to disclose it earlier constituted "a professional lapse of the kind that no news organization can tolerate."

Good for the Times and GREAT for Jason Felch.

Yes, this is a Los Angeles centered story and those teachers in New York wonder, "Why should I be concerned?" We all should. If a reporter had an agenda, used questionable and unethical means to source a story in LA it can happen here. We already see reporters that we believe are biased, or at the very least start a story with an agenda. We know who they are, reporters such as XXXX XXXXX, and XXXX XXXXX, and XXXX XXXXX, and especially XXXX XXXXXX, and the entire crew at the New XXXX XXXX.

But let's not take our word or the Los Angeles Times word on the lack of ethics shown by Jason Felch. Let's ask him ourselves. I am sure he would like to hear from as many teachers as possible.

Send questions to jasonfelch@me.com
— Jason Felch (@jasonfelch) March 15, 2014

Et Tu, AJ Duffy?

One of least endearing OCD habits I have is as soon as a wake up I reach over to the night stand and grab my iPhone and check all my email. Yesterday, when I awoke at 10 AM I checked my phone and saw that I had email from a groupie. The email saddened me. AJ Duffy, former president of the UTLA, having left office in July, is planning on opening up a charter school.

I feel not only surprised, but hurt as well. In fact worse than hurt, more like stabbed in the back. It was just over a year ago when in light of Jason Felch and the Los Angeles Times exposing teachers Value Added Assessment data that I wrote extensively about, but a teacher, Rigoberto Ruelas killing himself because Jason Felch deemed him an ineffective teacher. I even reached out to the UTLA and asked for AJ Duffy, which he graciously and unconditionally accepted, to appear on my Internet radio show.

So it seems that AJ, who was quite vociferous in railing against the Los Angeles Times and its use of VAA, but seemed to genuinely wanted to fight for his teachers as opposed to Randi Weingarten, has now pulled a Randi Weingarten. He is sleeping with the enemy.

Like Randi, he is now an opportunist, a person who sees not only dollar signs, but the power he can have, and perhaps never truly had.

Duffy wishes to make it harder for teachers to earn tenure protections and wants to lengthen that process. He even wants to require teachers to demonstrate that they remain effective in the classroom if they want to keep their tenure protections.

Why is this now the way Duffy wishes to go? Why, the change of heart? Why not put his money where his mouth was and show that a school, that is unionized, that treats its teachers with respect and dignity can succeed?

And if a tenured teacher becomes ineffective, he wants to streamline dismissals. The process now in place can stretch out for several years, even with substantial evidence of gross misconduct. Some union leaders, notably Duffy, have defended this "due process" as a necessary protection against administrative abuses.

Again, let's go back to that old argument. What makes a teacher effective or ineffective? Will Duffy now accept the use of VAA's? Will Duffy have in place measures to stop administrative abuses? The hypocrisy is quite explicit here. How can someone who has spent the last six years fighting for the rights of educators do a 180 and now be against teachers?


"I would make it 10 days if I could," Duffy now says of the length of the dismissal process.

If ever a statement deserved a face palm, this is it.

Duffy had a chance, a great chance to join the ranks of those out there who are opposed to the obscene measures being put on students, parents, and educators by the deform movement. He could have lent a credible voice, a supportive voice to those who are fighting tooth and nail at has become a system that is not serving its neediest children, but rather a system of education that one sees as a place to make a dollar.

Instead he has chosen a path that will, at least he thinks, bestow power, money, and what he considers prestige. Greed, it seems to Duffy, is good. Fighting the good fight, struggling, is bad.

How can Duffy look himself in the mirror and see what he likes? How can he when everything he has fought for, everything he has stood for is now all just moot? Duffy is no more than just a politician. His, and only his, best interests at heart. The families and students of Los Angeles as well as the teachers have just been told by Duffy to F*** Off! So has the rest of America. Shame on you AJ Duffy

Jason Felch Of The Los Angeles Times Is The New Snooki

I am taking a break from watching Wrestlemania XXVII to blog. Yes, I missing Stone Cold Steve Austin to share my two cents about another hit piece against Los Angeles teachers in today's LA Times by everyone's most biased reporter, Jason Felch.

In fact I think this is a excellent juxtaposition due to the fact that perennial attention whore, Snooki of Jersey Shore is wrestling in a special 3 on 3 Diva tag team tonight. Jason Felch, I have come to the conclusion is the male reporter version of Snooki. An attention whore that has no morals, no values, and will do, say, or manipulate any and all information as long as he is at the forefront of the story.

Today's headline, and subsequent biased reporting by Jason Felch is about a teacher, Miguel Aguilar, who was rated very effective by the convoluted algorithm by Dr Richard Budin of the Rand Corporation, and blindly followed by Jason and the LA Times.

Apparently Miguel Aguilar has received a pink slip, he is being layed off, and another teacher in his school, Broadous Elementary School, John Smith, who has been rated least effective, is not being laid off. Mr Aguilar has 8 years of experience, versus Mr Smith's 15 years. In fact Mr Aguilar and Mr Smith were featured in the original story about Value Added Assessment in the Los Angeles Time last August.

No we here at SBSB applaud Mr Aguilar's method for not teaching to the test, for teaching through the test and finding an effective method for reaching these students. We are also saddened to learn of Mr Aguilar's being laid off and wish that this is just a temporary blip in his career and hope he returns to the classroom at Broadhaus soon. But sadly, Jason Felch is once again playing loose with the facts.

Jason starts off with quoting a teacher that, "A teacher coming forward … that hadn't happened before" But if you read further down in the article Principal Stannis Steinbeck came up to Mr Aguilar and asked Aguilar, "if he'd be willing to lead a school-wide training session."

So Jason couches it as if Mr Aguilar came forward on his own to give professional development, yet further reading shows that it was requested by his principal. In fact this is quite disingenuous of Jason Felch. He is attempting to show a divide amongst teachers at the school, that there is no collaboration, that teacher do not support one another.

Especially when at the beginning of the article Felch writes; "It was the first time anyone at Broadous Elementary School in Pacoima could remember a teacher there being singled out for his skill and called upon to share his secrets school-wide."

Hey, it's not the teacher's fault. It is the administrator's fault that this never happened in the past. A good principal should always look at their teachers to give professional development, to turnkey good practices to the staff. I have given PD, as well as turnkeyed what I have learned. This is called collaboration and does not happen as often as it should. I know at my school, and in fact all teachers I have come in contact with in my career are always sharing ideas and best practices. What Felch has flaunted is not reinventing the wheel.

Felch continues to flail away on his keyboard; "The article contrasted Aguilar's performance with that of the teacher next door, John Smith, who ranked among the district's least effective teachers. Pupils in both classes faced similar challenges in the poor, predominantly Latino community."

Similar does not mean the same. The same does not mean similar. Case in point: A parent and I once had a conversation about the projects. She made explained to me that not all people who live in the projects are poor. There are college grads, city workers, bankers, business people, candlestick makers, etc... who live there. There are also drug addicts, drug dealers, gang bangers, criminals, ex-cons, mentally ill, etc... Even though these people live in the same place, there is a wide array of families, people, etc.... Another case in point: Growing up, there was a family across the street that seemed right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The classic All-American family. However, I learned many years later that the father was an alcoholic and there was such fear inside that house.

The point I am making here Jason Felch, is that you never knows what happens behind closed doors. Just like your closed doors.

Aguilar in the article claimed, "There's a lot of jealousy and hate out there.... People said things like, 'There's this guy who thinks he's all good just because he's Latino and he's friends with the kids. How do you know he's not cheating?'"

Nice of you to play the Latino card Mr Aguilar. See, now I am starting to lose some respect for you. Maybe you did cheat? How can we be sure? How can Felch be sure? Could it be that no one trusted you because you spoke to the press? There are still many questions that I have asked, and still need to be asked.

Aguilar forced students to slow down and think before answering questions. Without dumbing down lessons, he broke down key concepts in a way that his fifth-graders, among the grade's least fluent in English, could readily understand.

Let's see. Aguilar probably speaks Spanish. How much of his day does he speak in Spanish to his students? Smith, mmmm, I doubt he speaks Spanish. Is it possible that perhaps Aguilar's students feel more of a connection to him? Is it a personality thing? I really don't see what Aguilar is so special. It's common sense.

How come Felch didn't bother to speak to the parents of Mr Smith's students? Why didn't Mr Felch bother to speak to Mr Smith's students? Why is Mr Aguilar so eager to speak with Jason Felch? He claims embarrassment, he whines about about being singled out, but again, Aguilar has no problem making himself the center of attention.

Jason Felch clearly has an agenda. He is a failed teacher, and definitely has an axe to grind. Let's hope and pray that there are no more suicides caused by Jason Felch's irresponsible reporting. Yes, I know, Jason has no conscious. It wouldn't surprise me for Jason Felch to be rooting to see Mr Smith take matters into his own hands.

Jason Felch. I, The Jury

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported on the suicide of Los Angeles teacher Rigoberto Ruelas. Remember, this is a teacher that the Los Angeles Times deemed ineffective. But something caught my eye in the article.

....Rigoberto Ruelas always reached out to the toughest kids. He would tutor them on weekends and after school, visit their homes, encourage them to aim high and go to college.

Yes, I see how he can be deemed ineffective. How dare he take time out from his life to tutor students, to visit their homes, and worse, encourage they continue their education.

Andromeda Palma, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, stopped by after school to leave a balloon at the memorial. She said she used to struggle at math, but he taught her to succeed and not to give up.

Evil!! Wait, I thought he was ineffective at teaching math? And this girl, a former student, has the gumption to claim that Rigoberto taught her to succeed and not to give up at math?

Andromeda continued, "He told me it is not about where you are from but if you don't go to school you are nothing in this world," she said with tears in her eyes. "Now I am doing real good because of him."

This must be wrong. He is ineffective. How can this student have succeeded with him as a teacher? Jason Felch says he is ineffective. Jason Felch is smug, it is impossible for him to be incorrect.

From the Los Angeles Times of Tuesday, September 28;

Detractors say value-added rankings place too much emphasis on test-score teaching, especially in schools like Miramonte, a large school in an impoverished, gang-plagued neighborhood about six miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. About 60 percent of Miramonte students are Spanish-speaking English-language learners.

Yeah, so many advantages to teaching there. A gang plagued neighborhood? Why aren't the cops doing their jobs? Perhaps it is time the LAPD get value added assessed. Have the cops outed in the Times as effective or ineffective.

But, it won't happen. Jason Felch does not have the guts to do it. I think the reason is that Jason fancies himself an educator. Why? Seems that Jason has at one time taught. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

According to Jason in Alexander Russo's chat;

Jason Felch: "I thought you'd never ask! Before going into journalism, I taught middle school and high school students. I also founded and ran an after school program for "inner city" kids in San Francisco, and am very familiar with their challenges. My colleague Jason Song has covered the city's schools for years. Thursday August 19, 2010 11:52 Jason Felch

As you were asked Jason, where did you teach? Were you an effective teacher? Will you release your scores or be like Michelle Rhee and just claim they can't be found. How long did you teach for?

Jason, because of your irresponsibility, your pre-conceived decision, your cowardice, your lack of integrity, your snobbishness, a man, a good man, a man with children, is dead. You are to blame, you are responsible. You were, and still are, judge, jury, and executioner.

Jason, you will never, ever get the spot out.

Blood On The Hands Of Jason Felch And Richard Buddin

There is sadness in education today. Unfortunately, this day was all too inevitable. It had to happen, it had to come to fruition. What is sad it was all too avoidable.

Today, Rigoberto Ruelas killed himself. According to KABC-TV, Ruelas was found dead about 9 a.m. Sunday in the Angeles National Forest, and a teacher ratings report by the Los Angeles Times did not score Ruelas well. Family members said the teacher evaluation scores may have caused him to go missing.

This is too much of a coincidence. A teacher of fourteen years, suddenly the Los Angeles Times decides to hire Dr Richard Buddin and his cockamamie statistical analysis, and decides to paint Ruelas as ineffective without using all the facts. I feel so bad for his family, his friends, his students, his loved ones.

The following should be socially indicted;

There is blood on the Los Angeles Times hands

There is blood on Joel Klein's hands

There is blood on Eli Broads' hands

There is blood on Michelle Rhee's hands

There is blood on The Walton Family's hands

There is blood on Whitney Tilson's hands

There is blood on Eva Moskowitz's hands

There is blood on Oprah's hands

There is blood on Bill Gates' hands

There is blood on Geoffrey Canada's hands

There is blood on Mayor Bloomberg's hands

There is blood on the media's hands

There is blood on Arne Duncan's hands

There is blood on President Obama's hands

There is blood on George W. Bush's hands

There is blood on Gov Christie's hands

There is blood on Al Sharpton's hands

Mr Richard Buddin And Jason Felch Man And Wife

As you know, we here at SBSB are not only keeping abreast of all that is happening with hit piece of teachers in Los Angeles by the LA Times, but we are also at the forefront of getting the background behind the story and following any and all leads.

One lead we did follow was one of the writers of the story, Jason Felch. Jason was kind enough to share the wonderment of himself with us here at SBSB. However Jason's jounalistic integrity has come into question. Or has it? It is of course all in the context of what integrity is.

But enough of Jason Felch. He is just the messenger of evil. Jason needed to get someone, somewhere to crunch those numbers. Someone nefarious and someone who is getting paid big bucks.

That someone is Richard Buddin of the Rand Corporation and UCLA. One would assume that Mr Buddin would have had some type of background in education. After carefully scrutinizing his resume no one on the crack SBSB team was able to locate any such experience. Seems Mr Buddin is nothing more than an average, everyday economist.

First contact was made yesterday with Mr Buddin. The identity of the blog was never hidden, in fact it was out there. He was amiable enough to take time from his busy brown bagged lunch to talk with us here at SBSB.

We asked Mr Buddin if he had any background in elementary or secondary education. Mr Buddin answered with a resounding "no." But, and this was quite reassuring, Mr Buddin did share that he does teach at UCLA. Goosebumps is all that can be said.

Mr Buddin was asked if he had ever been in an urban area. He reply was negative, he had not. Was he ever in Compton, East LA, the Barrio, Watts. No, no, no, no went the answers.

He was asked how if "did you take into account the backgrounds of the students in using value added assessment?" He said he had not.

When asked why, how could he do this and at the same time ruin several teachers careers, he replied, and I quote, "The study was supposed to be broad statistical analysis and at no time did he suspect individual teachers were to be used as an example."

This led to him being reminded that even a 7th grader learns in science that when doing an experiment to have all the facts available before such experiment. At this point Mr Ruddin accused yours truly of having some type of agenda and then hung up like an 8th grade girl finding out her best friend is also in love with David Cassisdy.

Since we here at SBSB believe in true journalistic integrity, as compared to the Los Angeles Times, we decided to contact Jason Felch for a response.

Jason, looking down his nose at the blogging world, initially claimed he was to busy. Mr Buddin's words were texted to Jason. When Jason was contacted later on, he said again he had to make deadline. But he had time to say that he had spoken with Mr Buddin.

Jason Felch said I fibbed. He had spoken with Mr Buddin and Mr Buddin told him that those words were never uttered. I explained that I quoted him verbatim. Jason then in his best patronizing, condescending manner explained to me how to be a writer, a journalist. I explained to Jason if he meant if this were akin to taking things out of context. Cat got his tongue.

SBSB stands behind what Mr Buddin said. He said it, he meant it, and he got caught up in it.

Jason, you and Mr Buddin deserve one another.

Milton Berle Out Of Context

I had a brief conversation tonight with Jason Felch of the Los Angeles Times about the damning article he co-wrote judging teachers with that value added testing stuff on August 15.

The conversation was brief, but I did bring up some points in which Jason was good enough to answer. One point I brought up, in which I wrote about last week, was the observations of classroom teachers reported in the Times.

On this day, Aguilar had invited a student to the board to divide two fractions — a topic on the upcoming state exam.

John Smith, speaking in a slow cadence, he led his class in reciting a problem aloud twice. He then called on a student slouched in the back. The boy got the answer wrong. "Not so much," Smith said dryly.

Several sentences on what was observed in a classroom. But there is a hitch. What context are these lesson being done? What was the question John Smith asked? The answer he received? Slow cadence? Why was this mentioned? Why was the teacher talking in a slow cadence?

As far as Mr Aguilar, what were the fractions involved? What was the context of the lesson? Was this being done in isolation?

Many pertinent questions I feel. And these I brought up to Jason, that without context we one can not make proper judgement.

He agreed. But what was telling was what he said next. "We have only so much space to tell a story. The story was long enough already at two hundred inches. Mist storied are 20 inches. We just couldn't add the context."

I explained to Jason that the implication, the way in which it was written, especially about John Smith the story will be misconstrued by those reading it. That without the facts, how can one make a proper inference to what truly happens, or happened in these two classes.

For example, we can use what Missy Natalie Ravitz wrote in the Huffington Post August 6 taking Diane Ravitch's words out of context. That is an example. Or, better yet, let's play make-believe.

Say one day Joel Klein is amongst friends ruminating about his days watching TV as a child in the projects. He tells one of his friends that he had met Milton Berle. Can happen. I met him in 1980 at Grossingers in Liberty NY. So Joel is there and he shares with his friends that Uncle Miltie told him that, "Sure, I enjoy wearing women's dresses." Yes, I am getting to a point.

So isn't it possible, theoretical that one can say Joel Klein said once, "I enjoy wearing women's dresses"? Now Joel Klein did not actually say that he enjoys it, Milton Berle said it. But, Joel Klein did utter those five words. But without giving the context in which those five words were used, Joel Klein would come across as some cross dresser (though there is nothing wrong with that!).

When writing a story this damning, this explosive, we here at SBSB feel that the Los Angeles Times and Jason Felch should have gone above and beyond to make sure that everything was reported in context.

Value Added Trap

I am going to try to be good. Very good. Gonna write about Whitney Tilson, though briefly, but the bawdy comments will stay inside of me.

Last night, at 10 23 PM EDT Whitney blabbered:

This is breakthrough journalism: the Times obtained math and English “scores for the academic years 2002-03 through 2008-09 from LAUSD under the California Public Records Act. Included were 1.5 million scores from 603,500 students. Students' names were not included, but their teachers' names were.” The Times then hired “a senior economist and education researcher at Rand Corp. to conduct a "value-added" analysis of the data” and is now publishing the data, including in the near future (I hope you’re sitting down) “the performance of more than 6,000 third- through fifth-grade teachers for whom reliable data were available.” In other words, parents (and anyone else) will be able to see which teachers are most and least effective.

How much you wanna bet Whitney is yet again lacking facts?

What got Whitney all googly ga-ga was an article in today's Los Angeles Times Magazine. In it, intrepid reporters, Jason Felch, Jason Song and Doug Smith, went through years of test scores in LA and value added them and then decided which teachers are effective or not.

Yet year after year, one fifth-grade class learns far more than the other down the hall. The difference has almost nothing to do with the size of the class, the students or their parents.

Is that a fact? You know this for sure? It has absolutely nothing to do with the class, the students, or the parents? Is it possible that it just so happens that one class has smarter students than the other? What are the sizes of the respective classes?

With Miguel Aguilar, students consistently have made striking gains on state standardized tests, many of them vaulting from the bottom third of students in Los Angeles schools to well above average, according to a Times analysis.

We all know what just happened here in New York about test scores. Maybe Mr Aguilar just stopped teaching and all he did was test prep. Maybe, and I am not making any accusations, Mr Aguilar cheated?

Which teacher a child gets is usually an accident of fate, in which the progress of some students is hindered while others just steps away thrive.

Yeah, it is all on the teacher. Nothing to do with the atmosphere at home.

The Times obtained seven years of math and English test scores from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

How were this obtained? Who authorized it? Were parents notified about it in advance? Is this legal? Aren't tests, education, students not supposed to be shared unless the parent gives consent?

Each student's performance is compared with his or her own in past years, which largely controls for outside influences often blamed for academic failure: poverty, prior learning and other factors.

How is it controlled for outside influences? Please. Share. Was each family interviewed, visited? Was there a questionnaire sent out?

the method has been increasingly embraced by education leaders and policymakers across the country, including the Obama administration.

Just because it has been embraced doesn't make them right, or know what they are talking about.

Contrary to popular belief, the best teachers were not concentrated in schools in the most affluent neighborhoods, nor were the weakest instructors bunched in poor areas.

Well, duh! But this runs counter to what Joel Klein has been spewing for years. Joel, are you reading this?

Other studies of the district have found that students' race, wealth, English proficiency or previous achievement level played little role in whether their teacher was effective.

You have got to be kidding! Which studies? Where? By whom? Cite sources. I had to do this in college when I wrote a paper, why are these reporters allowed not to? Cite one source please!!!

Many teachers and union leaders are skeptical of the value-added approach, saying standardized tests are flawed and do not capture the more intangible benefits of good instruction. Some also fear teachers will be fired based on the arcane calculations of statisticians who have never worked in a classroom.

Say AMEN brother!

The respected National Academy of Sciences weighed in last October, saying the approach was promising but should not be used in "high stakes" decisions — firing teachers, for instance — without more study

OK, I agree with what NAS said, but explain how NAS has a horse in this race. Cite the study.

teachers must have had enough students for the results to be reliable.

Seems this is contradictory as to comparing Mr Aguilar's class to others.

Nevertheless, value-added analysis offers the closest thing available to an objective assessment of teachers. And it might help in resolving the greater mystery of what makes for effective teaching, and whether such skills can be taught.

No.

But the surest sign of a teacher's effectiveness was the engagement of his or her students — something that often was obvious from the expressions on their faces.

There of course is some truth to this statement, but boring, does not mean ineffective or incompetent.

On this day, Aguilar had invited a student to the board to divide two fractions — a topic on the upcoming state exam.

Teaching to the test? Seems like it. But what was the problem? Was it being taught in isolation? Just being able to get facts straight does not convey an understanding of dividing fractions.

John Smith, speaking in a slow cadence, he led his class in reciting a problem aloud twice. He then called on a student slouched in the back. The boy got the answer wrong. "Not so much," Smith said dryly.

Not so much what? What was the problem? What was the response? Is that all John Smith had to say? What is the context of his quote?

It was only 11a.m., and already it had been a tough day: Three of Smith's students were sitting in the principal's office because of disruptive behavior. All were later transferred permanently to other classrooms. In an interview days later, Smith acknowledged that he had struggled at times to control his class.

What grade is this? Why are the students in the principal's office? What is the back story with these students? Why John Smith are you speaking to the press?

How much students are learning is rarely taken into account, and more than 90% of educators receive a passing grade, according to a survey of 12 districts in four states by the New Teacher Project, a New York-based nonprofit.

UGH!!!! New Teacher Project. Please. I doubt TNTP is the most objective source to be quoted here.

Almost all sides in the debate over public education agree that the evaluation system is broken.

Who on the side of good says this?

if a third-grade student ranked in the 60th percentile among all district third-graders, he would be expected to rank similarly in fourth grade. If he fell to the 40th percentile, it would suggest that his teacher had not been very effective, at least for him. If he sprang into the 80th percentile, his teacher would appear to have been highly effective.

Must all the variables that can affect this be listed? Too much, too little time.

Any single student's performance in a given year could be due to other factors — a child's attention could suffer during a divorce, for example.

Could be due? But at the very beginning of the article this was written; The difference has almost nothing to do with the size of the class, the students or their parents.

The approach, pioneered by economists in the 1970s

Yeah, dorky economists wearing pocket protectors and Brylcreem and who were beaten up in the playground.

In an interview last week, A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, was adamant that value-added should not be used to evaluate teachers, citing concerns about its reliance on test scores and its tendency to encourage "teaching to the test." But Duffy said the data could provide useful feedback.

Don't do it!!! It's a trap!!!!!!

Even at Third Street Elementary in Hancock Park, one of the most well-regarded schools in the district, Karen Caruso stands out for her dedication and professional accomplishments. A teacher since 1984, she was one of the first in the district to be certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. In her spare time, she attends professional development workshops and teaches future teachers at UCLA. She leads her school's teacher reading circle. In her purse last spring, she carried a book called "Strategies for Effective Teaching." Third Street Principal Suzie Oh described Caruso as one of her most effective teachers. But seven years of student test scores suggest otherwise. In the Times analysis, Caruso, who teaches third grade, ranked among the bottom 10% of elementary school teachers in boosting students' test scores. On average, her students started the year at a high level — above the 80th percentile — but by the end had sunk 11 percentile points in math and 5 points in English. Caruso said she was surprised and disappointed by her results, adding that her students did well on periodic assessments and that parents seemed well-satisfied. "Ms. Caruso was an amazing teacher," said Rita Gasparetti, whose daughter was in Caruso's class a few years ago. "She really worked with Clara, socially and academically." Still, Caruso said the numbers were important and, like several other teachers interviewed, wondered why she hadn't been shown such data before by anyone in the district.

This is wrong. They damned a teacher, shamed a teacher, and like an abused spouse she bought into their judgement of her as not effective.

Call me jaded, but I smell a rat in this story. A very, very, Broad rat. Unfortunately yet again we see reporters doing the shilling for the school districts without getting the other side of the story and leaving out facts and taking things out of context.