Schools Riled by Teacher Ranking Site

[Tony]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101353,00.html ..full article

WASHINGTON — A Web site that encourages students to rate their teachers has been banned from hundreds of schools across the nation and administrators are saying it's a distraction and an abomination.

One official in Maryland called RateMyTeachers.com "personally and professionally repugnant" and suggested that teachers might have legal recourse against the Internet forum's operators.

"It's akin to medieval public flogging," said Brian Porter, spokesman for the Montgomery County Public Schools (search), which said the Web site is filtered out automatically by a central Internet firewall, which blocks student access to anything deemed non-instructional or harmful to children.





This is a step in the right direction.

here is the website: www.ratemyteachers.com

[KelvinG]

Why didn't they have this when I was in school? Oh yah, there was no internet.
But anyways, it would have been a handy tool.
I can see how some teachers are pissed about it, but the idea of legal action is a little stupid. If a teacher is getting a low rating, then maybe they have to stop and ask themselves why.

[originalgagster]

Originally posted by Tony






This is a step in the right direction.



What is a step in the right direction? The website or the banning of it?

[Crossbow]

School teachers are very sensitive to public crictism.

Some have been peeved for years at the way teachers are portrayed on the TV show The Simpsons for example.

[jimlintott]

I can see how some teachers are pissed about it, but the idea of legal action is a little stupid. If a teacher is getting a low rating, then maybe they have to stop and ask themselves why.

I agree. I looked up the high school my kids attend and most of the teachers rated there are rated quite highly. Here. (http://www.ratemyteachers.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=37268)

Of course being an internet poll I wouldn't place too much stock in it which makes me wonder why some people are so upset over it.

[Tony]

Originally posted by originalgagster


What is a step in the right direction? The website or the banning of it?

The websites.

[originalgagster]

Originally posted by Tony


The websites.

So what possible benefits do you see from such a site?

In my opinion the teachers who are likely to score the lowest are the teachers who don't put up with any s**t from the kids i.e. effective teachers.

[Tony]

Originally posted by originalgagster


So what possible benefits do you see from such a site?



To hold teachers, the district and the state accountable.

[Mr Manifesto]

In my opinion, not taking ***** from your students does not in itself demonstrate you are an effective teacher. I believe teachers should work with students, not mold them in the images they see fit (not that I'm going to put my money where my mouth is by becoming a teacher, but regardless...).

The website can be a useful tool for feedback for the teacher. Assuming, of course, there are measures to prevent multiple voting (which I haven't seen on the 'net, ever). And, the teacher should not be subject to disciplinary action by the school or relevant education departments because of what is on the website.

But, if the above could be done, maybe when a teacher sees something like, "Hmm, 100 students don't like me", maybe it would be some kind of wake-up call.

[DavidJames]

"To hold teachers, the district and the state accountable."

Can you explain a little more how you see the teacher rating site making that happen?

Do you think anonymous feedback via the Internet is a good way to asses the value of someone's job performance?

Do you see any problems with it?

Would you like your next performance appraisal to be based on anonymous feedback from the Internet?

[originalgagster]

Originally posted by Mr Manifesto
In my opinion, not taking ***** from your students does not in itself demonstrate you are an effective teacher. .

No, but it is probably the most important characterisitic for a succesful teacher. You may find good teachers who are lazy, have poor presentation skills etc; but - private education apart - you will never find an effective teacher with poor classroom control .



Originally posted by Mr Manifesto
The website can be a useful tool for feedback for the teacher. Assuming, of course, there are measures to prevent multiple voting (which I haven't seen on the 'net, ever). And, the teacher should not be subject to disciplinary action by the school or relevant education departments because of what is on the website.

But, if the above could be done, maybe when a teacher sees something like, "Hmm, 100 students don't like me", maybe it would be some kind of wake-up call.

Pupil feedback is not considered a valid way of ascertaining a teachers competence. Pupils lack the subject knowledge, knowledge of classroom management, presentation techniques and many other aspects of good teaching to make a knowledgable judgement on a teachers abilities.

It is perfectly possible (even common) for a teacher to be disliked by their pupils, but to get high levels of attainment from them.

[hgc]

Originally posted by originalgagster


So what possible benefits do you see from such a site?

In my opinion the teachers who are likely to score the lowest are the teachers who don't put up with any s**t from the kids i.e. effective teachers. My experience in high school was that effective teachers were well respected by students.

[RPG Advocate]

Originally posted by originalgagster

Pupil feedback is not considered a valid way of ascertaining a teachers competence. Pupils lack the subject knowledge, knowledge of classroom management, presentation techniques and many other aspects of good teaching to make a knowledgable judgement on a teachers abilities.

It is perfectly possible (even common) for a teacher to be disliked by their pupils, but to get high levels of attainment from them.

Oh really? If that's true, then why did both my high school (http://www.mvschool.com) and the university (http://www.onu.edu) where I got my undergraduate degree both require students to evaluate teachers/professors at the end of each term? Are you saying that such evaluations are worthless?

[originalgagster]

Originally posted by RPG Advocate


Oh really? If that's true, then why did both my high school (http://www.mvschool.com) and the university (http://www.onu.edu) where I got my undergraduate degree both require students to evaluate teachers/professors at the end of each term? Are you saying that such evaluations are worthless?

I wasn't talking about university education, nor do i know anything about the type of school you went to, or about the US system of education. But I do believe, as far as the education of children in state sector schools is concerned, pupil assessment is largely a pretty worthless method of evaluating teacher competence.

[American]

They are bothered by free speech and people having an opinion on something. No surprize. Universities are nothing but businesses, mostly filled with Red Diaper Doper Babies.

[patnray]

Seems like a good idea. Teachers can be good or bad (i.e. effective or not effective) for many reasons. Some strong disciplinarians are excellent teachers, others are not. There are many factors that affect the end result. And there is a difference between effective teachers and popular teachers. Some are both. Some are effective but not popular. This web sight seems to have fair grasp of this difference, and I think the majority of high school students do as well. Unfortunately, I think the better teachers will appreciate the ratings while the worst teachers will deny it has any relevance.

My daughter's school has a chemistry teacher who is one of the worst teachers I have ever met. He says that chemistry is a hard subject and most of the students will fail. He absolutely refuses to see the high failure rates in his class as a reflection of his teaching ability. If a student doesn't understand a concept his response is "Reread the book". He never tries an alternative explanation, nor does he ask questions to determine why the student is having trouble. But he is tenured and can not be disciplined despite the high failure rates in his classes... He isn't rated yet, but I'm sending this sight to my daughter...

[Ladewig]

Some of the posters in this thread would do well to go read the entire article at the posted link.

Two of the scales that students can use to rate teachers are clarity and helpfulness. A quick look at the site reveals that most teachers listed on the site are getting positive ratings and comments.

[UserGoogol]

I myself am in High School, (for now) and I just checked out the website for exactly one teacher. So far, decently positive. Some fair criticisms, but overall pretty good.

I admit that certian schools could easily have the website become insanely popular among people who don't like the school, and that could skew things, but I see nothing wrong with it. Teacher-student feedback.

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Ladewig
Some of the posters in this thread would do well to go read the entire article at the posted link.

Two of the scales that students can use to rate teachers are clarity and helpfulness. A quick look at the site reveals that most teachers listed on the site are getting positive ratings and comments.

Unfortunately, a closer look can also be useful in other ways. For one thing, do not trust any rating that is not accompanied by some comment. For example, I am listed in the RateMyProfessor web page. One of the students gave me a "1" for helpfulness, with no explanation.

I'd really like to know what their justification is. In the class they were in, I had regular help sessions outside of lecture where I would provide students with sample problems and then I (and the TAs) would mingle among the students and sit with them to help them. Moreover, if anyone ever asked me if they could get some help, I told them to come visit my office and we would talk about it. However, none ever did.

What else do I have to do to be helpful? Hold their hands the whole time? This rating means nothing to me. It only looks like someone who was ticked off for some reason.