Reply #59: Several things.

[Recursion]

The argument I am seeing is that the model is flawed because it does not reflect reality.

Hm. It's based on the test scores that actually were made.

Her students have high test scores, decent grades

And we're told over and over again that that isn't teachers' responsibility: rich kids do well and poor kids don't.

she is highly evaluated by her superiors

Right: that's what I meant. She's popular, so this assessment is assumed to be wrong (it can't be because of the students' achievements, since again we're repeatedly told teachers shouldn't be praised or blamed for that).

Basically, she got hurt in this model because she taught the "easy" kids -- ones who are already performing well. That fact doesn't bother me all that much.