What needs to be changed?
No system of evaluating teachers is going to be perfect. No matter how much we analyze the ways that we assess teachers there are going to be flaws in the process or outcome of our methods. Though each individual method has it's unique assets and drawbacks. Outlined below are the general problems that the process of assessing teachers have developed as well as pros and cons to each individual method.
1. Shifting to Quantitative Assessment
5. Staged Teaching
1. Shifting to Quantitative Assessment
- Many types of assessment are moving more towards a method based on a numeric rating scale. When evaluating something as subjective as teacher's instruction it is hard to evaluate by using numerical values. By using a numerical rating scale, it introduces the potential for important information to be left out. When observing a teacher, not everything they do can be put into a category, such as numerical categories. It would be more beneficial for teacher evaluations be done at a more individual basis in a way that better reflects their individual achievements and struggles that would not otherwise be reflected when using a numerical rating. Using numerical ratings does not reference a teacher's specific methods which in result can cause a harder time trying to target areas of improvement for the teacher.
- Many types of assessment reflect the observer's judgement and opinion about the teacher. They do not include a teacher or student point of view in most cases which can skew to results of the evaluation. In result of this, it eliminates the idea that these evaluation are an absolute reflection of a teacher's performance. It does not reflect definitive knowledge but rather knowledge that is altered by an observer's predispositions about a teacher or a specific classroom.
- When the observer, usually the principal or other administrator, enter into a classroom to observe they have to be prepared in many ways. One way is that they need to be knowledgable about the subject being taught in order to collect meaningful observations about the teacher concerning their teaching techniques. If they are not specialized in the area being taught it can be easy to pass by many significant points of improvement.
- A common saying is that there is never enough time for anything. The same is true for teacher evaluations. When an observer comes into a classroom to evaluate a teacher, many time they can only stay for about 30-50 minutes. Not only is this unfair to the teacher, but it is also unfair for their evaluation. Rather than seeing a teacher in many different situations, the observer only sees a snapshot of what the teacher does. Ideally the observer would be able to stop and observe multiple times within a quarter or semester, but that is not the case for many.
5. Staged Teaching
- In most cases, teachers are warned when they are getting observed. Though this might seem appropriate it can also have a big impact on the observation. When a teacher knows they are going to be observed they are much more inclined to prepare a great lesson and act differently than they normally would. They might have a more patient, understanding, or enthusiastic demeanor around the children that day than they normally would which will give them better results on their evaluations.