At the heart of the Chicago teachers strike, a historic rift that left 350,000 students in limbo for more than a week, was a question that school systems across the nation are confronting: How much should teachers be accountable for the performance of their students?
More rigorous evaluations of teacher performance, particularly those that tie teachers’ ratings to student improvement on standardized tests, have been a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s education reform plans. Nearly two-thirds of all states have made changes to their teacher evaluation policies since 2009, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality, and Illinois state law now requires districts to consider student growth measurements for a “significant portion” of a teacher’s rating...