AFT President Randi Weingarten expressed her support for the conclusion reached by a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study that calls for more effective evaluation of teachers. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study shows teachers are the most crucial component of student success, and that current measures of teacher effectiveness fail to accurately recognize good teachers and show a pathway toward improving teacher and teaching quality.

Weingarten said:

The MET study of thousands of teachers reaffirms that teacher evaluation is both an art and a science that requires time, tools, training and trust—ingredients that teachers and principals should have but too often don't. This study underscores the fact that teacher evaluations must be about improving teaching, not just a mere snapshot assessment.

The MET findings reinforce the importance of evaluating teachers based on a balance of multiple measures of teaching effectiveness, in contrast to the limitations of focusing on student test scores, value-added scores or any other single measure.

Read more about AFT's efforts to improve teacher evaluation and development.