Should Third Graders Evaluate The NYSED Commissioner?

The NYSED Commissioner has decided that third graders (and fourth graders, and fifth graders, and so on...) get to evaluate their teachers.

These so-called "student surveys" will count for 5% of a teacher's overall evaluation starting in 2014-2015.

Education reformers who promote the use of student surveys say that there is an overall correlation between how effective a teacher is and what students say about a teacher on the surveys.

I can see a whole host of problems with this part of the evaluation, especially when it is used for students as young as elementary school.

But if the education reformers are so bent on getting student surveys into the mix and so sure that students have an accurate measure of teacher effectiveness, I am sure they'll be excited to add student surveys to the annual performance evaluation of NYSED Commissioner John King.

Oh, wait - NYSED Commissioner John King doesn't have an annual performance evaluation.

Perhaps that's something that needs to be remedied in the next legislative session.

We can add the use of student (and teacher and administrator surveys) for John King's annual performance evaluation at that time.

What say you, erstwhile corporate education reformers?

You say everybody needs to be held accountable with "rigorous" evaluation measures.

How about holding the NYSED Commissioner accountable?

Or the Regents Chancellor?