High schools should add students to the teacher evaluation system.

My CaseThe flaws with the current system:My opponent talks about the pros of both the current methods of evaluating high school teachers. I'll cover both methods.1. Test Scores My opponent concedes that schools are motivated to use tests as forms of evaluation because they get grants. This is important because this means that schools are motivated by something other than benefiting their students; they have no actual justification for such an evaluation used alone. My opponent explains that the teachers actually do have control over the scores of their students. I would agree with this to some degree; I am not in any way advocating to get rid of test scores as a form of evaluation. My opponent is right to some degree when he says that tests as evaluations show how well a teacher teaches material. However, there will always be students who do well on tests even when they have a neglegant teacher, and there will always be students who do badly even when they have a diligent teacher. When students fill out the evaluation form, they can answer constructive questions that will result in a much more complete form of evaluation than any test.2. Principle Reviews For this point, my opponent cites some evidence that is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the American Federation of Teachers. My Atlantic card I mentioned earlier notes that generally teachers are the ones that tend to be against student evaluations being integrated into the teacher assessment system. This article is sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, and since teachers are often times against such a form of evaluation, the article contains a biased point of view. Also, the article never mentions anything against evaluations from students. It only talks about how to make principle/test evaluations stronger. The article states, "Evaluation procedures must address this complexity--they should not only assess individual teachers but also help them continuously improve." Student reviews fit this criteria. I will how later on.Accuracy of student evaluations:1. My Atlantic Card My opponent attacked this card by showing that principle evaluations can prove the same points as student evaluations. I'll get into why they can't on the next point. It is important to observe that my opponent did not cite a study showing the exact accuracy of principle evaluations; therefore, he has no way of showing that principle evaluations can do the same things student evaluations can do. As my Atlantic Study shows, students assessing their teachers is the most accurate form of assessment.2. Addressing Biases My opponent explains that biases cannot be ruled out. I would agree. Bias will exist, but as my pieces of evidence show, bias is not going to be as big of a problem as one may think. In fact, administrators also can be biased. Gender bias is a major problem with administrators (1). I won't get too much into that issue, but there is always the possibility that a certain gender could get special treatment from various administrators. Also, Education Week explained that the research by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (my opponent cites this earlier) is correct, several disturbing patterns were found. It turns out that teachers were evaluated by administrators got significantly worse reviews from administrators if they taught a lower level class with students that were hard to teach. Student evaluations can show that teachers instructing challenging classes may be good at what they do, although the students may not always succeed (2). The article states, "It creates a system that is demonstrably and palpably unfair to teachers, given that they have little control over the performance of the whole school,” the report states." I have proved that teachers with good student evaluations are better teachers, and that student evaluations have no correlation with a student's actual grade made a point earlier: students sign up for different levels of classes (pre-ap/AP/on-level). This means they will have similar expectations. Bias can cause administrators to give on-level teachers lower ratings even if they don't deserve them. Since students in an on-level class have similar expectations, they will be able to adequately assess their teachers abilities the way they should be assessed.Lastly, my opponent explains that students are not qualified. I gave examples of the questions that students will be asked in the previous round. Since they spend at least every other day with their teachers, they are certainly able to answer simple questions about their teacher's performance.Improving the school system:1) My opponent explains that the tenure system is flawed, not the evaluation system. I agree the tenure system is flawed, but it will be much harder for a teacher to get tenure if they receive consistent bad reviews from students.2) I would like apologize; I made an error in the first round in argument that addresses teachers being fired. My Teachers Union card is not talking about bad teachers, but teachers in general. The evidence (which will be linked below) states only 1 in 1000 teachers is fired for performance related reasons. If we look at lawyers, 1 in 97 get fired for performance; with doctors, 1 in 57 are fired for such reasons (3). The bottom line is teachers have a much lower standard than other careers, which is wrong because, "Wright, Horn, and Sanders (in press) have demonstrated that, within grade levels, the single most dominant factor affecting student academic gain is teacher effect." Teachers are what effect students the most and the should be held to a high standard (4). Student evaluations (which I have proved accurate) will hold them to that standard.3) My opponent compares students assessing teachers to customers setting prices of food in a restaurant. This analogy is simply unrealistic because teachers have a lasting impact on the lives/education of students; food/prices at a restaurant do not. My opponent talks about how students don't know the standards of teaching, just like not all customers know the standards of a restaurant. It is important to remember that we are debating the high school evaluation. By the time students get into high school, they should know the difference between good teachers and bad teachers; at a restaurant obviously there will be people who don't generally eat out (making them ill-qualified). Remember, student evaluations are not just a sheet where students put their opinions. Students fill out sheets of constructive and easy-to-answer questions.Benefits the teacher/student:1) My opponent explains satisfying the student is unimportant and that the gap between student expectation vs. what they actually get is inevitable. Look at the question: Why do we have schools? The answer is: To teach students. If students are not satisfied, they won't be taught well. Simple. As I said before, the gap is inevitable. However, teachers knowing why this gap exists for them makes them better teachers. And students feeling like they have a say gives them satisfaction because they finally have an ability to dictate some of what happens with their teachers.2) My opponent says students can walk up to teachers and give them suggestions; thus, positively impacting the teacher. This is completely unrealistic. Students will most likely not have the confidence to pull such a stunt, and the teacher will most likely find the student to be condescending. The solution is student evaluation because they will be anonymous if the teacher were to look at them.Opponent's CaseI'll go ahead and cross-apply my attacks in the same format as my opponent to make things simpler since I have already attacked my opponent's case in the previous round.Students have Different Ranges of What To Expect*As I said there, students have signed up for similar classes have similar expectations. Also, my Atlantic Card shows that since teachers with higher ratings teach more. This means students simply expect teachers who will teach them adequately. Also, many of the questions that would be on the evaluation are not opinion questions.Qualifications*again, see attack #2 of "addressing bias"*Students spend a lot of time with their teachers. Answering questions about the teacher is simple.Expectations*see attack #1 on benefiting student/teachers*Current System*see attack #1 and #2 on "flaws in the system"*For these reasons, vote pro.Thanks again to Unknown_player for accepting!! Also, thank you to anyone who votes.(1)http://www.acsa.org...(2)http://www.edweek.org...(3)http://teachersunionexposed.com...(4)http://mccluelearning.com...