By Tamara

Last week I was notified of my acceptance to participate in the Washington State Policy Symposium discussing Teacher/Principal Evaluation and the Common Core Standards. Then I came across this article in the New York Times describing a teacher evaluation system with promising results in New Haven. The article describes a protocol that “holds teachers accountable without crushing morale and wrongfully dismissing teachers.” It goes on to detail how the New Haven system gives teachers regular, actionable feedback and provides support for those who are struggling.

I have been thinking a lot about teacher evaluation over the last year. Especially since the current system in my district rates the vast majority of us as “satisfactory”. Oh yay. That tells me what? I want an evaluation system that offers me usable feedback so I can improve my craft and grow professionally. I want an evaluation system that offers genuine support to new and struggling teachers so they can build confidence and improve or, if not, be counseled in pursuing a different career path. Such a system would make me feel that my efforts are worth something.

Now there are many aspects of teacher evaluation systems that jerk chains. Like how to include student progress and by what measure.  What about the potential for abusive administrators to have it “out” for certain teachers. All valid concerns.

Personally, I think student progress is non-negotiable. Since it is supposed to be the ultimate result of what we do, it absolutely must be a (not the) factor in our evaluation. After all, if the NBPTS can ask us to demonstrate student learning of stated objectives in every entry, shouldn’t our evaluators? On the subject of evaluators: Just as our evaluation should entail multiple and varied measures, so should our evaluators be multiple and varied. I would like to see my evaluation team consist of my principal, a master teacher or instructional coach, and a fellow teacher who teaches a similar subject and grade. And I would expect each of them to observe me multiple times through the year. Spreading evaluation out this way provides a check on those who could potentially abuse power.

There are plenty of other hot points such as tying evaluations to merit pay or promotions I don’t care to get into now (but will likely address in a future post). No teacher/principal evaluation system is going to be perfect. But I want to see an evaluation system that acknowledges I am an individual with strengths and areas to improve rather than just one more indistinguishable face in a “satisfactory” herd.