Many school districts around the nation are adopting a “value-added” evaluation to their agendas. President Obama’s administration is also favoring such districts, as some federal grants are only available by implementing these measures. LAUSD and other major school districts may follow suit in implementing the “value-added” evaluations. In the future, a teacher’s job may be greatly influenced by how well their students perform on standardized tests. In the District of Columbia Public School (DCPS), elementary school teacher Roxanne Brummell provides her opinion on the “value-added” option; “I love it, but it has its flaws,” Brummell says of the district’s method of evaluation. Brummell is categorized under “highly effective” by the DCPS and won a $20, 000 bonus. Few DCPS teachers got “highly effective” rankings, and even fewer received large bonuses. Despite her rewards, Brummell has worries that her school district relies too heavily on standardized tests. While standardized testing can measure a student’s performance, the test results may not correlate with the teachers performance. A hard working student may score high while having an average teacher, but a lazy pupil may score low while having an exceptional teacher. Rating teachers, relying soley on test scores, is not the best method for rating a teacher. When the Los Angeles Times went public with their “Los Angeles Teacher Ratings,” the newspaper came under much fire from the United Teacers Los Angeles (UTLA) and average citizens. This has convinced some districts to adopt the “value-added” evaluation. In DCPS, Eric Bethel, a fifth grade teacher turned teacher evaluator stated, “I don’t think teachers need to be fearful about value-added...they’ll get more credit for what they’re doing.” His students make up the minority classes, and while his kids’ test scores could not compete with those of more fortunate children, Bethel’s students did improve. Like Brummell, Bethel was awarded a $20,000 bonus prize. Brummell’s final say about the “value-added” factor is not congruent with Bethel’s. Brummell fears for her colleagues whose careers are only starting. “I believe in second chances,” she says. Rookie teachers get cycled out of the school district before they can produce good results in the classroom. Not enough factors are considered when deciding a teacher’s future. LAUSD may soon begin to implement such measures when evaluating teachers. By concentrating on the results of standardized test scores, many important factors in the evaluations of teachers will be missed. Standardized test results may have a correlation with a teacher’s effectiveness, but correlations are not substantial definitions.