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[Arne] Duncan and [Bill] Gates propose developing measures of effectiveness to get rid of bad teachers and increase the pay of good ones. It sounds like common sense. Or does it?

This approach was called the “inspection” method by W. Edwards Deming, known as the father of the science of quality improvement. Inspection, he wrote, is not an effective way to improve quality because it has no effect on the process that caused suboptimal results in the first place. Real and continuous improvement, Deming argued, occurs only when the workers themselves study outcome variability and the processes that produce it.
–James Stigler, Rethinking Teacher Accountability – Before It’s Too Late (EdWeek, June 9, 2010)

I almost recycled this issue of EdWeek when I came across this essay from James Stigler of UCLA. He goes on to describe the Japanese practice of lesson study, and explains how it is both a form of accountability and a form of professional development.