The data is out on “value added” by teachers and while surely imperfect it is data. On the other side — the intuitions and experience and expertise of teachers and parents on the “who is a strong educator” question.
Remember the scene in Moneyball when the scouts are nattering away: “he has a good looking girlfriend” “you mean old man Justice?” “I don’t like his swing”. Or the more recent Jeremy Lin case of expert expectations vs reality. I think the data will win.
From The New York Times: In Teacher Ratings, Good Test Scores Are Sometimes Not Good Enough The methodology used can cause a wide variation among teachers in the same New York school, and great results can still bring a poor ranking. http://nyti.ms/A6pf8R
From The New York Times: In Teacher Ratings, Good Test Scores Are Sometimes Not Good Enough The methodology used can cause a wide variation among teachers in the same New York school, and great results can still bring a poor ranking. http://nyti.ms/A6pf8R