A Teacher Evaluation System That Works

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Teacher evaluation has been a major topic of controversy for the past few years. Usually student test scores and observations by administrators are used. However, recently those strategies have been criticized as being too narrow to gauge the interplay between teachers and students in learning.

A tech start-up, Panorama Education, begun by two 23-year-old grads from Yale, has developed another approach, running surveys in more than 5,000 schools, now adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Their survey collects data from students on factors that might affect a teacher's performance - how well she covers material or encourages interest in a subject, to whether a school fosters a sense of belonging.

Reviewing data, teachers can learn if they connect better with boys or girls, if English learners are having more trouble than native speakers. Teacher Lisa Campbell reports how the responses have been transformational and how she has grown.