This data revolution is a departure from those semiannual classroom visits by the principal. Reformers say such limited observations and subsequent evaluations have done nothing to boost student achievement.
But they’re measures San Diego Unified is holding fast to, according to reporter Will Carless.
Its leadership says “value-added metrics” are too risky to employ across the district. They’re controversial among educators and parents who fear an emphasis on test data will sterilize and narrow classroom curriculum. And they’re so new they’re largely untested.
But the district is cautiously dipping its toes into the numbers game, starting in City Heights.
 Edison Elementary Principal Tavga Bustani has turned her once-failing school around with her data-driven system. | Photo Credit: Sam Hodgson |
Carless reports Edison Elementary Principal Tavga Bustani is rigorously collecting and analyzing student data. She’s using that data to find the teachers she needs to spend more time observing and training.
Her approach seems to be working. The school was once deemed failing, meaning its state test scores were too low and parents could opt out of sending their kids there. This year the school was one of three San Diego schools nominated for the national Blue Ribbon Award.
And then there’s Crawford High School, where teachers Jonathan Winn and Carl Munn started tracking data in 2010. According to Carless, their spreadsheets helped them identify a colleague who was struggling and offer him help. His students quickly improved and his rank in the district soared.
Their efforts caught the eye of superintendent Bill Kowba, but the district’s interest seemed to stop there.
Teachers said district leaders didn’t consider the favorable data or its effect on teacher improvement when it decided to consolidate the campus from four small schools to a single school last year. The decision rocked the campus, especially Winn and Munn, who balked when district officials said one of the reasons for their decision was that Crawford lacked a model for improving achievement.
District leaders told Carless they encourage principals to track student test data and roll that information into professional development efforts. But it seems San Diego’s evaluation revolution goes largely unrecognized, and is limited to those stellar principals and teachers with the foresight and energy to wade through the spreadsheets and charts on their own.
Until the district is willing to enter into tricky negotiations on evaluations with the teachers union, principals will keep popping into classrooms now and then. And pink slips will keep going to the district’s newest teachers, including its numbers whiz, Jonathan Winn.