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LAUSD to overhaul teacher evaluations

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Los Angeles Unified’s board of education voted today to overhaul what people within and outside the district say is an ineffective teacher evaluation system. The board wants the overhaul to include the controversial value added method.

The value added method surveys student test scores from year to year to measure teacher effectiveness. L.A. Unified board member Steve Zimmer says the board has instructed thesSuperintendent to sit down with the teachers union and craft a new evaluation system that uses value added.

"Its appropriate place is in the basket of the many measures that must go into a comprehensive teacher analysis," Zimer said. "Only a comprehensive teacher evaluation can be considered an accurate and valid teacher evaluation."

Opponents of value added, including teachers unions, say the method is inaccurate. Zimmer said the goal is for the district to try out new teacher evaluations next school year at some schools – and to go district-wide the following year.

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