Why this obsession with evaluating teachers?

Why the obsession with teacher evaluations? You can’t go a day without seeing or hearing something about it. Bill Gates just spent 45 million dollars to find the best evaluation method possible. The problem with Bill gates however is he comes up with his solutions first and then goes about manufacturing evidence that backs up his claims. This obsession that he and others have preproposes that there is something wrong with the field when nothing could be further from the truth.

There is no national mania to evaluate firemen, police officers, paramedics, soldiers, nurses and dozens of other fields that work directly with the public and have tremendous responsibilities. Nope its just teachers who have garnered the ire of a reform minded few many of who seek to profit off of education and who view teachers as an obstacle to their profit margins.

Instead of worrying about teachers, the vast majority of who are committed and hard working maybe we should worry about this culture of testing which strangles creativity and crushes the joy of learning and poverty which is the number one factor when determining how a child will do in school. Children who live in poverty don’t do as well as those that don’t.

I am not saying we shouldn’t strive to put our best and brightest in our classrooms, I am saying many are already there and it is time we looked elsewhere for our solutions.