Bill Gates wants the country to spend $5 billion on video cameras in every classroom, footage which would then be used for teacher evaluations.
It remains to be seen how much the Microsoft mogul is willing to chip in.
Reports Fast Company in an exclusive interview:
Actors do it. Professional athletes do it. Now Bill Gates wants the country to spend $5 billion for every teacher in every classroom in every district to be filmed in action so they can be evaluated and, maybe, improve. …
In a talk he gave for a TED / PBS special to be aired May 7 (filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 4), Gates discussed the plan to tape teachers, its estimated $5 billion price tag, and the pilot program he funded, the Measures of Effective Teaching, conducted with 3,000 teachers in seven districts. They reported three years of findings in January on a teaching evaluation system that combines test scores, student evaluations, and classroom assessments, where teachers are graded by impartial observers.
The idea of reevaluating how we test teachers is spreading, but remains controversial–even without the privacy issues involved in filming the classroom. “I know some teachers aren’t immediately comfortable with a camera in the classroom,” Gates acknowledged, then said that could be overcome by allowing teachers to pick which lessons they want filmed–which would seem to undermine the validity of any findings.
CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook.
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.