There’s plenty of literature out there that describes the woeful situations where teacher evaluation isn’t done well–whether in the recent New Yorker article that describes New York City’s rubber room for teachers in limbo or the article on the widget effect that points out that fewer than one percent of the 40,000 teachers covered in the study ever received an unsatisfactory rating. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan takes a similar stance in one of ED’s core assurances–focusing on ‘recruiting and retaining effective teachers,’ but with a tacit understanding that tackling the other end is part of the equation.
How gratifying today then, in my extended visits to two different schools and in work with my teachers there and conversations with their administrators, to be part of situations where it felt right. True, the outcomes of these two situations may very likely be different–with one moving towards removal and the other towards validated improvement–but the conversations were direct, professional, respectful and responsive in all the right ways.
A good day. A productive day. One where I really got the sense that when the conditions are right (especially with a strong and respectful collaboration between the peer assistant and the administrator), real progress is being made.
Schools Where Teacher Evaluation Works
There’s plenty of literature out there that describes the woeful situations where teacher evaluation isn’t done well–whether in the recent New Yorker article that describes New York City’s rubber room for teachers in limbo or the article on the widget effect that points out that fewer than one percent of the 40,000 teachers covered in the study ever received an unsatisfactory rating. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan takes a similar stance in one of ED’s core assurances–focusing on ‘recruiting and retaining effective teachers,’ but with a tacit understanding that tackling the other end is part of the equation.
How gratifying today then, in my extended visits to two different schools and in work with my teachers there and conversations with their administrators, to be part of situations where it felt right. True, the outcomes of these two situations may very likely be different–with one moving towards removal and the other towards validated improvement–but the conversations were direct, professional, respectful and responsive in all the right ways.
A good day. A productive day. One where I really got the sense that when the conditions are right (especially with a strong and respectful collaboration between the peer assistant and the administrator), real progress is being made.