A very sad story here in Los Angeles today: The body of an LAUSD veteran of 13 years was found this weekend, after he'd made arrangements for a substitute to take over his class.
For those who don't know, a few weeks ago the Los Angeles Times published a searchable database of teacher rankings across the district. The union local, UTLA, has a ton of info on its website as to why the "value-added" methodology of the rankings are flawed, and how teachers are unfairly penalized.
One of the teachers who received below-average ranking was Rigoberto Ruelas, 39, who taught fifth grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School. From LA Weekly:
The 39-year-old hiker from South Gate went missing last week after he phoned in for a substitute to take over his duties at Miramonte Elementary School Monday and Tuesday. Now television reports indicate he might have been distraught over his lackluster showing at the Los Angeles Times' controversial teacher ratings site.
Ruelas was found dead in the Angeles National Forest Sunday morning, and his Toyota SUV was nearby, according to reports. It appeared he might have jumped off a bridge that spanned a 100-foot-deep ravine.
The Times database had Ruelas as "Less effective than average overall," "Less effective than average in math," and "Average in English."
Ruelas taught for 13 years and, according to family members, had perfect attendance in recent years.
UTLA's reaction, according to the Daily Breeze:
United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy called the publication of the list of teacher ratings "despicable," and the union -- which had opposed publication of the list -- issued a statement calling on The Times to remove it from its website.
"UTLA is appalled at the L.A. Times," Duffy told KCAL. "We predicted there would be problems. This teacher was a great teacher by all accounts -- loved by students, parents, and respected by his colleagues.
"I will be reaching out to Superintendent (Ramon) Cortines and Deputy Superintendent (John) Deasy to join forces to implore the L.A. Times to take the names of individual teachers and test scores off the website and cease and desist from publishing any in the future."
The Breeze also published this response from the Schools Superintendent:
"Mr. Ruelas was a passionate and caring teacher who put his students first," Cortines said. "He made a difference in the lives of so many in his classroom, and by staying after the bell rang to tutor students. He encouraged his students to do better and aim higher, that they too could go to college. In addition, during his 14 years of teaching, Mr. Ruelas had nearly perfect attendance. We need more teachers like him."
This morning Pres. Obama gave an interview to the Today Show on the topic of education reform, in which he stated, according to the AP, "We have got to identify teachers who are doing well. Teachers who are not doing well, we have got to give them the support and the training to do well. And if some teachers aren't doing a good job, they've got to go." Unfortunately, Rigoberto Ruelas was not given that support before being publicly tarnished by the published rankings.
And the LA Times' response? "We understand that the sheriff's department is currently investigating Mr. Ruelas death. We extend our sympathy to his family." In spite of UTLA's protests and boycott, the newspaper has not removed the rankings database.
There will be more Rigoberto Ruelases down the road: dedicated teachers whose lives are ruined after inspiring countless children's lives. We owe it to them, and to our children, to demand that they're given the support and training they need to be effective, and to not measure their effectiveness through the sole prism of student testing.
Update: Adding california keefer's comment here because it was posted late in the thread, and deserves acknowledgment:
He taught at a low performing school. (2+ / 0-)
The API for this school was 662
The school is 97% Hispanic 2.7 % black and .2% white.
In comparison, my wife taught at one of the poorest schools in San Bernardino county 99.9% of the children qualified for free lunch (only our daughter didn't)and they scored 700. She now teaches at a middle of the road school that scored 795. The value added assessment that the LA times used is the exact same method the Obama administration embraces. This man was a bilingual teacher that was described by his students was caring dedicated teacher. He made sure kids had food to eat and helped families. He stayed late to tutor low performing kids. A testimonial on a website
It was an honor to meet such a great person like Mr. Ruelas. He was my 5th grade teacher and my favorite one. He tought me so much, with him i learnd my division, my time tables and even how to make the best pancakes in the world. He was always a happy and energetic person all his student loved him. As i moved on to middle school i still went back and visit him once in a while to take him a little christmas present or just to say hello. Now that i hear this tragic story i just cant belive its him. He will be miss my condolences to his family love, Alex
My wife teaches at a much higher school and through the years has had kids with parents in jail, mentally disturbed children, kids with teenage gang members for parents and ELL fifth graders that not only didn't speak English, but were functionally illiterate in their own language.These are the challenges teachers face and they are far more important than specious test scores of unproven value. It sounds like Ruelas was a fine teacher that should have been judged by more than the test scores of his already challenging students.