Good Schools vs. Good Teachers

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Value-Added Assessment The topic of education is one that is highly debated; often debated is the issue of what constitutes a “good school” or “good teacher”, and how to properly evaluate them appropriately. A new evaluating tool is using value-added measures, which can focus on a student’s academic achievement to decide teacher raise or tenure as well as the credibility of the curriculum. Many teachers do not feel that this evaluation is fair for them because there is much at stake for them; if the student does not achieve at the end of the year then the teacher is held majority accountable. When it comes down to defining what a “good school” is, there are many differing opinions. There are many aspects, including the curriculum, the student to teacher ratios, annual test scores, etc. One particular school in Brooklyn, New York demonstrates what its principal Saul Bruckner believes is a good school. Murrow High School not only has high academic aspirations for all of its pupils, but was also designated as an experimental school by the New York City Board of Education (Ravitch). The school treats all pupils as college-bound students, and it does not implement tracking. It was purposely comprised of students with all types of learning levels and abilities, and there is no entrance examination as in most prestigious schools around the nation. There is no grade inflation or social promotion, so academic achievement is the primary factor when promoting a student to the next grade. Murrow encourages everyone to attend college, no matter their career goals, and the academic year is made of four 10-week cycles instead of the traditional two semesters. With the different academic year, it allows the students to take more risks; they know that they will not be stuck in a course that they do not like for too long (Ravitch). Although there seems to be slight leniency

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