How Do You Evaulate Teachers Who Change Lives?

What a question!  But I can answer it.  You don't.  You can't.  You shouldn't.  The kind of impact that a life-changing teacher has simply cannot be measured by a standardized test score achieved by students who are not themselves accountable for the score.

This article - How Do You Evaluate Teachers Who Change Lives? - is a must read for anyone who has thoughtfully considered this question.  If you do read it, I'd love to hear what you think!

For the past twelve years I have had the great privilege to teach on a team with Bob Downs, a man that I greatly respect, a man who makes every student feel special and cared for, who brings out the best in young adolescents.  He doesn't care much for the latest swings of the educational pendulum and doesn't have time for things that don't pass the "what's best for kids" test.  He has changed lives for more than forty years and he is retiring at the end of this school year.  I am very sorry to see him step back, and I'm sad that more kids won't have a chance to feel the magic in his classroom.  I am a better teacher for having worked with him.