It is so important that we listen to our front-line constituents to help us gain a better understanding of what needs to be done to improve our education systems. As I've written before, I think teachers should be involved as teacher evaluation programs are developed and implemented. I also believe student input is an important part of that process.

In the recent Atlantic article, "Why Kids Should Grade Teachers,"Amanda Ripley does a great job of explaining the importance of having student voices be part of teacher evaluations. She writes: "Test scores can reveal when kids are not learning; they can't reveal why. They might make teachers relax or despair--but they can't help teachers improve." It seems that we continually miss the opportunity to hear from our kids. Some critics will argue that students will give tough teachers low ratings or will be vindictive against those they don't like. But it's been my experience, particularly with high school and middle school students, that kids will tell you which teachers are high performers, which ones are mediocre and need help and which ones need to exit the profession. And I have found that the students are usually right on target.

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