ST AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- The state is measuring everything that happens in your child's classroom with one equation. And it is also being used to evaluate every teacher in the state.
"It doesn't directly tie to teacher performance and there is no data that shows it improves student success," said Dawn Chapman, the President of the St Johns Education Association.
It's called the
Value Added Model. And it makes up 50-percent of a teachers evaluation in St Johns County. "There is more to teaching than just what they can do on a test," said Chapman.
The other half of a teachers grade is calculated by the past three years of their classroom's FCAT scores. But those scores will also grade teachers with classrooms who didn't even take the test.
"50-percent of their evaluations is based on students they have never met," said Chapman.
It's a big reason why the Clay, Duval and St Johns county teacher unions are against the new evaluation system.
"This is supposed to be about teacher performance and teacher appraisal, but yet you are appraising them on students they haven't even taught. So how can that be a fair system," said Chapman.
And they are all pushing and hoping for it to change the next time state lawmakers meet in Tallahassee.
Starting in 2014, evaluations will be used to determine the standing of every teacher's contract and their pay. Despite the criticism, the state says it stands by the system.
