Building a Better Teacher

Mark A. Paige, is a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. He has represented school districts in a variety of education law matters in various state and federal jurisdictions, including the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He holds a law degree and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mark Paige’s Building a Better Teacher is an excellent resource for practitioners, policymakers, and scholars who seek to understand how legal mechanisms like the courts and collective bargaining impact the application of VAM in policy and practice. It is well written, logically constructed, and complete without being overwhelming. The law is reviewed, but a law degree is not necessary to understand the discussion. Chapters 1-7 provide a very useful Key Points section summarizing each chapter. The book is well resourced (326 footnotes) for those readers who wish to delve deeper into VAMs, teacher evaluation, and the law. One of the strengths of the book is its exploration of the limits of the courts in effectuating a just and fair response to policies using VAM in high stakes, adverse personnel decisions. . . .This is a volume that deserves a place on scholars’, practitioners’, and policy makers’ bookshelf. It raises important issues that can inform the important discussions about what processes and data best support high stakes employment decisions.

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter One: VAMs: What Are They Good For?Chapter Two: A Complete Circle: Teacher Evaluation, VAMs, and Employment DecisionsChapter Three: VAMs Under the Law: Unfair but Rational?Chapter Four: Pre-existing Conditions: Legal Deference to School Administrators Judgment of Teacher PerformanceChapter Five: VAMs, Collective Bargaining, and Arbitration: More Legal Headaches for Administrators? Chapter Six: Collective Bargaining: Exploring Local Mechanisms to Mitigate VAM’s Collateral DamageChapter Seven: The Appropriate Role of Courts in Creating for Fair EvaluationsChapter Eight: Lessons Learned: What Policymakers Can Learn from Education ProfessionalsAbout the AuthorIndex