Teacher Evaluations

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the teaching profession is not except from evaluations and assessments on the job. Teachers are often observed and critiqued on numerous things. However, unlike other professions, teachers are often evaluated on the success of someone else; their students. While assessing teachers on their student’s scores may seem appropriate on the surface level, there is a lot to take into account. Teachers are dealing with diverse classes with students that need special attention on a daily basis. Teachers usually have to deal with ESL students, special needs, low-level learners and socioeconomic diversity all within the same classroom and they usually have to teach with limited resources and immense pressure from state requirements. Not to mention, a student’s test score is probably not even the best indicator of success and is often biased based on an assortment of different factors, including their home-life. As you can see, evaluating a teacher can become quite the complicated process.

As we look at evaluating teachers, we must take into account a variety of different system to do so. We must also look at why we are evaluating them. According to AFT President Randi Weingarten, “teacher evaluations must be about improving teaching, not just rating teachers." While teachers may sometimes be unfairly evaluated, they should take responsibility for student learning by taking initiative to revamp the teacher evaluation process (Weingarten, 2016). 

One of the evaluation systems being used today is VAM (value-added modeling). VAM measures a teacher’s effectiveness by comparing the current test scores of a teacher’s students to the test scores of the previous year. The difference between the two is the value-added by the teacher. However, VAM has been criticized because the results will favor teachers who have less troubled students over teachers who have been randomly assigned more diverse classes (David, 2010).

Another type of evaluation system is a combination of formative and summative assessments done by school or state administration. First, teachers are given ongoing formative assessments of performance for the purpose of professional growth and improved practice. Second, they are given periodic summative evaluations or observations (Braun, 2013).

I think teacher evaluations should include the best of both worlds. Both measurement and development as a teacher are effective ways of assessing this profession. Evaluations shouldn’t just focus on rating teacher effectiveness, but giving specific feedback for improving teaching methods so that can become more effective teachers. An integrated system will be a better, fairer indicator of successful teaching. Teachers should be provided with professional development opportunities with support from their school districts. Teachers can be given mentors to work with and be given feedback from both students and parents. Peer and self-evaluations can also help assess a teacher as departments usually work closely together. 

References 

Braun, T. Teacher Assessment and Evaluations; Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/TeachrAssmntWhtPaperTransform10_2.pdf 24 June 2016

David, Jane. Using Value-Added Measures; Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may10/vol67/num08/Using_Value-Added_Measures_to_Evaluate_Teachers.aspx June 23 2016

Marzano, Robert. The Two Purposes of Teacher Evaluations; Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov12/vol70/num03/The-Two-Purposes-of-Teacher-Evaluation.aspx 24 June 2016. 

Weingarten, Randi. Teacher Development and Evaluation; Retrieved from http://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation 23 June 2016