General principles for an improved approach to teacher
evaluation
If we take the above negatives and reverse them, then logically we
should end up with some general principles for a model of how effective
supervision and evaluation should look. These would be:
Teachers and administrators should have a clear, shared
understanding of what constitutes ‘good teaching’.
Little et al. (2009) offer a 5 point definition of teacher
effectiveness. Coe et al. (2014) offer a list of six common components
suggested by research that should be considered when assessing teacher
quality. The DfE in the UK have recently issued a new set of ‘Teachers’
Standards’ which “define the minimum level of practice expected of
trainees and teachers” and which are also “used to assess the
performance of all teachers” (DfE 2011 p.3). For the purpose of this
paper, the overall summary statement used by Coe (p.2) will be adopted.
He states that:
“Great teaching is defined as that which leads to improved student
progress”.
This simple, clear, unequivocal statement establishes a sound basis from
which to proceed and guides observers towards what they should be
looking for (see Point 4).
- Teachers and administrators should have a shared understanding
about the purpose of the evaluation.Before we can think about the validity of any measures of teaching
effectiveness, we need to be clear what those measures are intended to
be used for. (Coe et al.2014). The purposes of evaluation should be
part of a vision that is clearly articulated and is part of the
culture of the school. Obviously, new or struggling teachers will
require a more customised programme of support where the purpose is
somewhat different, but for the ‘average’ teacher, the purpose should
be twofold. Firstly it should be about student learning outcomes and
secondly it should assist teachers to reflect on and improve their
professional practice. The latter of course, feeds into the former.
Timely, informative feedback is vital to any improvement effort
(Tucker 2005)
- Any evaluation system
should not require excessive amounts of time or paperwork to
complete.Principals and teachers are busy people. It should be possible to
design and implement a system which takes into account all six of
these general principles and meets the needs of the school and its
stakeholders, but which is also lean, efficient and useful.
Darling-Hammond (2013 p.xi) states that “systems should be designed
to be manageable and feasible, not so complex that they overwhelm the
participants with requirements and paperwork”.
- Teacher evaluation should
be linked to student outcomes/learningIn an effort to address the multi-dimensionality of teaching goals and
responsibilities, teaching effectiveness is typically defined in terms
of student learning. ( Hobson and Talbot 2001). Wherever possible, it
makes sense to judge the impact of teaching from its impact on
assessed learning (Coe et al. 2014). If the raison d’etre of schools
is to raise student achievement, then logically student learning
should be central to the process of teacher evaluation. Evaluation
should focus on the outcomes of teaching rather than theprocess of teaching. If quality learning is taking place, then
the teacher is doing their job and vice-versa.
- Appropriate training should be provided for anyone involved in
the evaluation process.The success of any teacher evaluation system greatly depends on the
in-depth training of the evaluators. (OECD 2009). Murphy (2013 p.16)
states that observers “should have good training so that they know
what to look for, provide effective feedback and keep subjective
opinions to a minimum”. Darling-Hammond (2013) calls for support
structures to be put in place to ensure that evaluators are properly
trained. Marshall (2013) states that to be effective, principals
should be knowledgeable and perceptive observers. It seems axiomatic
that if we want a job done well, then the person responsible for that
job should receive appropriate training to successfully execute the
work. Unfortunately, in education we assume that such competencies are
a natural by-product of experience.
- Any evaluation system
should be frequent and authentic enough to give an accurate,
representative view of teaching and learning.We have already established that a ‘once or twice a year’ classroom
observation of a ‘show’ lesson is not an appropriate vehicle for
making sound, helpful judgements about the quality of teaching and
learning. Nor is it an adequate sample on which to base meaningful
feedback for teachers, which might improve practice. Indeed, it may
well have the opposite effect. Evaluations should be frequent and
unannounced so that typical teaching and learning is seen and a
culture of openness and transparency is encouraged and embedded in the
school. Evaluations should not be based solely on classroom
observation. Darling-Hammond calls for methods which draw on multiple
sources of evidence about student learning, arguing that these are
essential to get a fair gauge on what a teacher has accomplished with
his or her students. Marzano (2013 p.13) supports this saying
“student growth should be measured in multiple ways”. Little (2009)
offers a number of additional methods including value-added models,
self-reflection, interviews, student evaluation and portfolios.
Mindful of No.3 above, it is worth reiterating that the system must
also be manageable and meaningful.
Finding a system or an ‘instrument’ which will meet with the above
principles is not easy. Teaching is a “complex and uncertain
endeavour” (Sato and Lensmire 2009) and even the detailed forms or
instruments used by many districts cannot capture its complexity.
Conversely, some are over simplistic and miss out important aspects of
instruction. However, Coe et al.(2014) states that If the assessments
available to us are not good enough, we need to improve them. As Murphy
(2013 p.18) observes, “although it doesn’t matter greatly which
particular rubric a school chooses to evaluate its teachers, it is very
important that it has one”. A principal owes it to his or her students
and teachers to find a system which works for their school.