The Fight Over Value-Added Teaching

This is from a link to a podcast on Making Better Teachers: The Fight Over Value-Added. Below is the segment cut out of the site to introduce the podcast:

When it comes to trying to improve student performance in public schools, many factors come together. One of the major issues is teacher performance and how best to judge teacher effectiveness. The “value-added” approach attempts statistically to show how an individual teacher can make a difference – positively or negatively – in how students do, regardless of class size or background.
Recent articles in the Los Angeles Times about this controversial method have sparked a nationwide debate, which has pitted President Obama’s Secretary of Education against teacher unions and many academics. The Los Angeles Unified School District is in the midst of asking for outside proposals to determine the most reliable way of judging teacher success. The district has gone on record that one of the components they want to include is “value-added” analysis.
Is this the best way to grade teachers? Does the public have a right to see the results? What role should subjective evaluations and student performance play?

Find out in this podcast.