Teacher Evaluations

"...teacher evaluations must be about improving teaching, not just rating teachers." —AFT president Randi Weingarten –

As stated in the quote as I prepare for teaching in the future and will be subjected to teacher evaluations throughout my teaching career what I would most appreciate from my mentors or observers would be feedback on how well he thinks the students grasped the content, whether my teaching tools were effective in delivering the content and how best I can improve my interaction with the students to motivate them to work effectively in the classroom.

Looking into teacher evaluation systems in the U.S , the district of Ohio uses the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. It is used by school districts to provide the teachers a detailed performance report that focus on the specifics of teacher strengths and how the teacher can improve. The teacher ratings will be as follows

Based on the evaluation, teachers receive one of four ratings.

According to the Ohio Teacher evaluation system, the teachers are evaluated on two components weighted at 50percent on each section.

1.       Teacher performance rating,

Based on A professional growth plan, two 30 minute observations and walk through

2.       Student academic growth rating.

There’s now a -New Alternative Framework  

1. Where the teacher performance rating is weighted at 42.5 percent, determined from:   

  A professional growth plan, two 30 minute observations & walk through;

2. Student academic growth rating, weighted at 42.5 percent

3. Alternative component from the list below, using a instruments such as; Student surveys; Teacher self-evaluations; Peer review evaluations; or Student portfolios.

Another teacher evaluation system is the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC): Model Core Teaching Standards:

According to the NEA Teacher Evaluation guide the InTASC offers a set of model core teaching standards that outline what teachers should know and be able to do to ensure every K-12 student reaches the goal of being ready to enter college or the workforce in today’s world.

These teaching standards have been based on research and exemplify effective teaching and learning in a transformed public education system—this is a system that:

•   Empowers every learner to take ownership of his or her own learning.

•   Emphasizes the learning of content and application of knowledge and skills to real world        problems.

•   Values the differences each learner brings to the learning experience

•   Leverages rapidly changing learning environments by recognizing the possibilities they         bring to maximize learning and engage learners. (Association, N. E. )

There are ten model core teaching standards covered in this model;

Standard #1: Learner Development.

Standard #3: Learning Environments.

Standard #2: Learning Differences.

Standard #4: Content Knowledge.

Standard #5: Application of Content.

Standard #6: Assessment.

Standard #7: Planning for Instruction.

Standard #8: Instructional Strategies.

Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice.

Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration.

The Danielson Framework that is aligned to the Intasc standards is composed of 4 main domains within which there are 22 components;

1   1.      Planning and preparation

2   2.    Class room environment

3   3.   Instruction

4   4 Professional responsibilities.

Each component has a distinct aspect of a domain. The levels of teaching performance describe each component and provide a road map for improvement of teaching. The Framework maybe used for school, district mentoring, coaching, professional development, and teacher evaluation processes, thus linking all those activities together and helping teachers become more thoughtful practitioners.( Group, T. D. 2013)

 

I believe this frame work is much easier to use for assessment as it is separated into the specific domains therefore the teacher will be able to assess the area needing improvement easily work towards it.

 Finally in my school the Overseas School of Colombo, the teachers are evaluated once every year. The year begins with teachers setting SMART goals that are aligned with school curriculum policies. These goals are then discussed and approved by Department Heads and the Secondary School Principal. There are informal and formal observations done by Department Heads of specific subjects, the Secondary School Principal and the Head of School during the course of the year. The observations and feedback is given at the teacher’s year end goals meeting. Achievement of the goals and performance rates are used to give salary increments.  I believe using a rubric like the Danielson Framework although might be time consuming will be an effective tool to use for teacher observations and evaluations throughout the year, so that the teachers can receive specific feedback on their teaching strengths and weaknesses and keep it on record for improvement.

Works Cited

Association, N. E. (n.d.). Teacher Evaluation. National Education Association.

Education, O. D. (n.d.). Ohio Teacher Evaluation Systems. Retrieved July 14, 2015, from Ohio Department of Education: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System

Group, T. D. (2013). The Framework. Retrieved July 10, 2015, from The Danielson Group: https://danielsongroup.org/framework/

Teachers, T. A. (n.d.). Teacher Development and Evaluation. Retrieved July 10, 2015, from AFT-- A union of professionals: http://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation