To the Editor:

As my friend always says, “I can’t teach an empty chair!”

Student growth makes a lot of sense as part of the evaluation of a teacher, if and only if we remember that student achievement and growth requires student effort. So as long as the teacher is evaluated solely upon the growth of the students who know the language, actually complete homework and come to class, then this is fair. You can’t teach someone who does not want to learn. The biggest influence on whether a student wants to learn or not is the family.