Tim Ellis/Flckr

Disgruntled teacher represented in sculpture form.

In the wake of the highly controversial Los Angeles Times’ initiative to apply value-added data to LAUSD teachers, the district is looking to adopt its own system for evaluating student achievement (known as Academic Growth over Time). They’re working with the University of Wisconsin Value Added Research Center (VARC), who will make their suggestions today at the Los Angeles Board of Education meeting. What data will this new system take into consideration, will teachers unions sign on, and can any system be comprehensive enough to evaluate something as complex as the classroom?

Guests:

Rob Meyer, director of the Value-Added Research Center (VARC) at the University of Wisconsin; he’s also a research professor and senior scientist at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)

A.J. Duffy, president of UTLA

David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member, parent of two public school students and an education strategist at the Association of Administrators – Los Angeles (AALA)