Argument Analysis and Evaluation: John Mooney In his essay “Should Students Grade Their Teachers,” John Mooney discusses the issue regarding if students should be able to grade their teachers. Mooney states that New Jersey school districts are building teacher evaluation systems, as well as other districts. Policy makers are aware of the idea and are discussing it. The idea of students grading their teachers bring questions and concerns. Mooney says that “Several districts that have been a part of the pilot program testing evaluation models have included or plan to include students surveys, although not necessarily part of a teacher’s grade.” David Pawlowski, the principle of the Alexandria Middle School does not believe all students have enough “knowledge about pedagogy to evaluate teachers.” In Alexandria, teachers are required to help students develop self-evaluations. Mooney believes that this could be a problem. Mooney explains that there are different ways to evaluate teachers according to the Measures for Effective Teaching, which is a research project conducted by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The MET study shows that both student achievement and classroom observation plays a role in the judging …show more content…
Mooney says that the state officials are continuing to raise awareness for discussing the possibility of student surveys. The State Education Commissioner Chris Cerf says that “student input is an intriguing option among many for judging teacher effectiveness, although it is too early to tell how important that might be.” Mooney believes that there are plenty of perspectives on the discussion. Mooney states that the method incorporates numerous indicators. According to Mooney, the survey is valuable for a teacher’s growth, but should not be included in the actual