Viewpoints: Best way to evaluate teachers goes beyond student test scores
The Los Angeles Times created a firestorm recently when it released a report that evaluated 6,000 Los Angeles teachers based on the test score gains their students had made over one year. The Times reporters concluded there are 1,000 teachers who are highly effective. The other 5,000 not so much.
That some teachers are better than others should hardly be news. It would be more surprising if they were all the same.
The reality is that the system by which teachers are evaluated is weak, and should be strengthened.
But in the attempts to define teacher effectiveness, too many take the same well-trod shortcut taken by No Child Left Behind the equation of educational quality with standardized test scores. This inevitably leads to the narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test, making such data a poor indicator of quality.
There is a better way, and a report released by Accomplished California Teachers a few months ago provides some direction. A respected group of teachers spent months consulting research, sharing our own experiences and exploring promising practices from schools around the state.
We arrived at a set of seven basic recommendations:
1. Teacher evaluation should be based on professional standards.
2. Teacher evaluation should include performance assessments to guide a path of professional learning throughout a teacher’s career.
3. The design of a new evaluation system should build on successful, innovative practices in current use.
4. Evaluations should consider teacher practice and performance, as well as an array of student outcomes for teams of teachers as well as individual teachers.
5. Evaluation should be frequent and conducted by expert evaluators, including teachers who have demonstrated expertise in working with their peers.
6. Evaluation leading to permanent status (“tenure”) must be more intensive and must include more extensive evidence of quality teaching.
7. Evaluation should be accompanied by useful feedback, connected to professional development opportunities, and reviewed by evaluation teams or an oversight body to ensure fairness, consistency and reliability.
One attribute of California schools is a strong set of teaching standards. Like many states, however, evaluation practices vary greatly from one district to another. Yet, amid the inconsistency, some novel and promising practices have evolved at various school sites and districts throughout the state.
For instance, at The Pruess School-UCSD, a charter school that serves low-income students who are the first in their families who will graduate from college, faculty members meet at weekly sessions to identify, research and address specific skills students need to master.
For example, in the social studies department, teachers recognized a need to improve the ability of students to write persuasively.
A sixth- through 12th-grade team was created to analyze student work, write lessons to address specific weaknesses, observe one another teach and reflect on the student work produced. Through this process, writing lessons were refined and a cohesive writing curriculum produced.
Ultimately, the work was compiled in individual teacher portfolios that included reflections and suggestions by each member of the team. The portfolios were then presented to colleagues and administrators as part of the annual teacher evaluation process.
California actually has some promising elements in place. In isolated school districts, there are innovative practices at work that are making a difference. The best evaluation systems encourage teachers to examine and reflect on what their students are learning, from a variety of angles. They include, but are not limited to, test scores. The vast majority of teachers want to do their best for their students. We need an evaluation system that encourages and inspires them to do so.
Anthony Cody is a National Board certified science teacher who has worked in the Oakland schools for 24 years. Kelly Kovacic, California’s 2010 Teacher of the Year, teaches at The Preuss School-UCSD charter school in San Diego.
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Anthony Cody is a National Board certified science teacher who has worked in the Oakland schools for 24 years. Kelly Kovacic, California’s 2010 Teacher of the Year, teaches at The Preuss School-UCSD charter school in San Diego.
