Public or Private?

After discussing teacher evaluations in class this week, and searching the web to find out a little more, I found an interesting video from Fox news (http://video.foxnews.com/v/2581558933001/should-teacher-evaluations-be-available-to-public/) concerning if the results of these evaluations should be known to the public.

When first discussing the ways in which we "evaluate" teachers I never thought to were the particular scores of these evaluations ended up. This video takes a look at the Los Angles education system and the way in which they are deciding to release the so called "scores" to the public. The argument for public exposure of the results comes from the idea that taxpayers have the right to know what they are paying for and how well the teachers are actually doing. On one hand, it can be seen that parents have the right to know the 'statistics' of each of the teachers in their district. However, some people feel those numbers can be an unreliable representation of the actual skill of the teacher.

Personally, after only thinking about it for a small period of time, there should be nothing wrong with exposing evaluations to the public. As the taxpayers, it's a somewhat "right" for the people to understand how the money is being used and how well it's working. As mentioned in the video, the scores of Judge's are released to the public to be looked at and noted which can be comparable to that of teachers. I think there is possibility for the evaluations to be public in a helpful way. As a hopeful teacher, I know that I would make sure to work extra hard knowing that my scores at the end of the year have the potential to be seen by the public eye. However, I also see where it might be discouraging to know that there is a higher amount of pressure on the work you do in the classroom and the way the score reflects that. I'm not sure which specific way the teachers are being evaluated, but that could also be a controversial topic when thinking about releasing the scores.

It's a topic up for much discussion, and perhaps it's something we'll be seeing more and more of. Either way, teacher evaluations have become a major aspect in the education system. The question concerns with whether theses results should be available to the public, or left for private eyes only.