[I hope this post proves interesting. It was written by Edwize blogger Leo Casey, and crossposted from Edwize.]

New York Measuring Teachers by Test Scores: so reads the headline on the front page of the New York Times which announces the NYC Department of Education's secretive pilot project to use value added statistical measures of student standardized test scores to examine the performance of teachers. The teachers and their schools will not be informed that they are the subjects of this study.

The DoE's "value added" project is a fundamentally flawed exercise which can not possibly deliver what it promises. It is being pursued, with the full knowledge of its flaws, because technocratic ideology trumps sound educational practice at Tweed. Moving forward with such a flawed project is extraordinarily irresponsible because "value added" -- the idea that one should measure how much academic progress students have made, rather than just their absolute academic standing -- holds promise as an useful tool in the repertoire of schools and educators. But the way in which it is being recklessly pursued by Tweed will cast discredit on the entire enterprise.

I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what Joe Williams (of the horribly misnamed Democrats for Education Reform) set as his New Year's resolution, but he starts off the year with a post accusing New York City Councilman Robert Jackson of "pimping himself" (Jackson is also Chair of the City Council's Education Committee). Here's what Jackson said, that Joe Williams disagreed with.

Stay classy Joe