Why are teachers evaluated at all? I wish someone would explain it to me.
Since the types of evaluations that take place in school occur in no other profession aside from education, why do we do it?
I hear that our teachers are “dedicated and talented, caring, competent and effective.” So why are we observing and evaluating them throughout the school year? On top of these evaluations, teachers are assigned coaches to meet weekly and go over every lesson in detail? Do doctors, lawyers, dentists, psychiatrists or any other professional undergo this type of scrutiny? Of course not! Heck… dishwashers, delivery men, short order cooks, bouncers – even substitute teachers – do not undergo this level of inspection or surveillance. So what have teachers done to deserve Big Brother (and his entire clan) watching over them like a mother who refuses to cut the umbilicus?
If you have come this far, then please read on for the free offer I am going to make to the first administrator to take me up on a unique proposition.
I believe evaluations are not only unnecessary, but counter-productive to what administrators are looking to accomplish using the current evaluative process. In fact, coming from a high-volume private practice and having hired (and observed) dozens of employees over fifteen years, I believe formal evaluations are probably the single biggest detriment to teacher growth and professional development in our profession today.
I do like informal walk-throughs if done for the purpose of touching base or informally checking in (as these are what we would call in the business world, your “bread and butter”)
So why do we evaluate?
I believe that education, like politics and the IRS, has made the process of teaching, and teacher evaluation, so convoluted it actually necessitates the process to continue. There are those that will tell you, “teaching is a demanding and complex profession” (unlike neuro or cardio-thoracic surgery) and that there are “many stakeholders with many roles and responsibilities (unlike being a Supreme Court Justice) which makes evaluating teachers even more important. more research I did to write this blog, the more
Observe or Evaluate?
These two terms, which differ significantly, carry with them one common outcome – performance – with that classification being either “observational performance” or “annual performance”
Classroom data vs. Growth?
Several models, such as the Arizona format, are specifically increase the percentage of teacher “growth” as a component to, I assume, take a bit of the pressure off the 50% data measurement. My question is, “How could they ever possibly have evaluated prior to this without including a growth parameter. If there was (or is) a goal or aim of the evaluation, how could it have ever been done correctly (and fairly) without including teacher growth – or lack thereof? If a goal had been set, then growth would be close to 100% of that “score.” If a scientist were to look at the evaluative system he would say, “You have way too many variables here to produce a valid outcome.”
Have you ever done an evaluation and seen something so amiss that you would have missed it if you had been doing an informal walk through? Does it take an entire period to perform an evaluation? walked into a room and seen something so amiss that would not
From my perspective, if I never had an administrator come into my classroom for the entire year, I might even be a little more “daring” and “progressive” and willing to “push the envelope” of what I think my students are capable of achieving. But then I came into teaching a bit later than others and had already been deeply immersed – submerged – in goal setting, time management and prioritization.
Is there anyone out there who is willing to “give” me one of their teams, or cohorts of teachers – or even one teacher – just one – for an “experiment?
And what is the goal of the teacher evaluation?
are looki If I were to have run my private practice the way most schools are currently being run, I would be running “Help Wanted” ads every week. No one would put up with it. Let’s see what would happen if one day I treated my employees the way teachers are being treated. First let’s make a few points:
- My new employees are given one week (at most) side by side training with the person they will be replacing.
- Teachers receive a 4-year degree, followed by a 2-year masters, and about 1-year of student teaching.
Funny. I have never been evaluated in ANY of my (many) jobs by having a number attributed to me. Nor have I ever been evaluated by a system where I did not know the criteria by which I was being judged. Nor have I ever been evaluated under a standard wherein I did not control the performance measure. (When I washed dishes, for example, I was not evaluated based on ANOTHER person’s dishwashing. Same thing in retail sales and management. My numbers were mine, and if my store was shorted on inventory in a given week, no employee was penalized for the lack of product, nor was I as manager; that would be perverse. When I worked in the trades, no employer ever evaluated me based on the wood planks with which I was supplied. If a 2X4 was warped, we tossed it.) Nor do I apply anything like a “VAM” in my own business.
Yet all of these things apply to the teacher in this article, and if you think that constitutes “the rest of us,” you have a VERY limited experience in the world of work, svejk.
But I’d be interested to know, what VAM is applied to you in your own profession?
Most of my employees stayed with me an average of four years which is a pretty good number. I never had any leave
I am not suggesting to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Use any system you like, but in addition, instruct your teachers how to collect and analyze data – and have students do this aas well – so that administrators can more accurately utilize the “evidence” to be a part of their evaluations. In addition, by showing teachers and students how to set goals, manage time and prioritize it will provide thenecessary incentive to further ensure that grades are more closely monitored and increasing
I do not belive that most people understand – or believe – how goal settingactually works.
Peter, I thank you for putting it so succinctly. We are the only “profession” that continues to defend the notion (known as a pipe dream) that subjective and “check-the-box” evaluations by administrators create and/or maintain high levels of professional and outcome achievement. The longer we believe this fairy tale, the longer we will continue to see our numbers drop.
Yes, other “occupations” (not professions) evaluate in similar fashion, but even those are based more on direct evidence (data, goals, and production) rather then subjectively designed rubrics.
There are other ways of doing this, and until administrators entertain outside input on this issue, they will continue to retard the progress and professional development of teachers
Can teacher evaluations be done horribly wrong? Of course. Evaluating teachers solely on the basis of their students’ scores on standardized tests can accidentally penalize good teachers while rewarding bad ones. It also gives teachers a strong incentive to teach to the test, which encourages what New York educator Kate McKeown calls RAMIT: “regurgitate, acculturate, memorize, isolate, and threaten.”