After looking over the VA Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers and the Greene article (from Forbes) what are your thoughts on teacher evaluation?
● The Virginia Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers,http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/performance_evaluation/teacher/index.shtml
● Greene (2021).”This Decade-long Experiment in Teacher Evaluation is an Unsurprising Failure,” Forbes, www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/11/30/this-decade-long-experiment-in-teacher-evaluation-is-a-failure/?sh=28a6596a1737
Currently, I don't know too much about what teachers go through in regards to evaluation. Every teacher has their own expectations for what is expected of them; although I'm sure it is outlined somewhere for them. But, this is controversial because teachers may portray a standard differently than another teacher, which causes their evaluation to be different. Additionally, there is an inherent bias when the an admin is evaluating teachers, that may effect their overall evaluation.
ReplyDeleteVeronica Here:
ReplyDeleteAdmins have to realize that each classroom is ran through differently> Teachers still follow the guidelines but in different ways for students accommodations. Admins are always on point for preaching about teachers following students accommodations, when we put that in the classroom, they act different in a way. Like, "this isn't how we run the class" or "you're not supposed to be doing this". Even though the teachers are following accommodations and guidelines.
Yuritzy:
ReplyDeleteI am not too informed on how actual evaluations go in education during the process of being hired or teaching. What I do know, is that there are not a lot of standards that teachers should go through like being able to have paid prep and evaluation classes to where they can see what they can improve on or keep doing the things. they do that work. Even though there are certain standards that teachers need to follow, there is no specific rule book for teachers to identify what they need to do to allow growth in the classroom. The free will teachers have because of those standards helps build creativity, but too much creativity is to question what should be done.
Cady Ayers
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to evaluate a teacher's performance. It's interesting that there are different criterias to meet to support a good performance. I've never declared a certain style or technique to be relative to those of the perfect teacher, but it's easier to pick out the 'bad' traits. I thought that most of the points on the VA doc were valid, but it isn't always fair to compare the student's response to the teacher's ability to teach them.
Mack Mboh
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with what happens in the processes of evaluations. However, people need to be aware that every year as a teacher is different. There will be no set of students that is the same, nor teacher. Teachers may follow the guidelines to cater to each type of student and how to class interacts with each other. Having one set of rules per teacher doesn't account for the differences in teaching styles and classroom management.
Riley:
ReplyDeleteI think its incredibly important to evaluate teachers in order to ensure they are doing their job and the students are ACTUALLY learning. However I wouldn't agree the methods of evaluation or telling. I think there's gotta be some sort of middle ground that needs to be found to help support everyone.
Elise Ginn:
ReplyDeleteThere are pros and cons for teacher evaluation. The cons are that it encourages professional growth as well as career advancement overtime. The cons are that it suggests a one-size fits all curriculum which isn't accommodating at all as well as it unfairly judges the students. The test scores are also a con in which they stress and basically "determine" a child's smartness.
I believe that like with any job, your evaluations are the roadmap to your success. It's an opportunity to see where your strengths and weaknesses are and provide you with the ability to develop on your ability to promote and encourage professional growth. I admit that I do not know much about the evaluation process for teachers but have experienced enough in life to understand that you need to take these evaluations seriously in an effort to grow. It seems that the process for a teacher might be too cookie cutter but I assume that most schools tailor that to the needs of their teachers as well in a way that focuses on the school's needs. To evaluate based on the test scores puts a lot of stress on the teachers to tailor to the needs of each individual student and help them progress as they work through all of the things that may impact each individual. Ultimately, there has to be a set standard to go by and this certainly accounts for that.
ReplyDeleteForgot my name at the top aaaaaaaaaaaaagain. Rob Horvath.
DeleteAfter looking over the Virginia Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and reading Greene’s Forbes article, I have pretty mixed feelings about how we currently evaluate teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe Virginia Guidelines do a solid job outlining what good teaching should look like — they go beyond just student test scores and include things like planning, instructional delivery, professionalism, and teacher knowledge. That feels like a step in the right direction, because it acknowledges that teaching is multifaceted and can’t be judged by just one or two data points.
But Peter Greene’s article really called out the elephant in the room — that even with these frameworks in place, the way teacher evaluation has been handled over the past decade has been mostly ineffective and even harmful. I completely agree with his main point: trying to tie teacher performance directly to student test scores is flawed. There are so many external factors that influence a student’s success, and putting that weight solely on a teacher’s shoulders just doesn’t seem fair.
Also, I think a lot of teachers feel like evaluations are something done to them, rather than a process that helps them grow. Ideally, evaluations should be more collaborative and reflective — something that helps teachers improve their practice, not just check off boxes or defend themselves.
In short, I think we need to rethink the purpose of evaluation. It should be about supporting professional growth, not just accountability. When teachers are trusted, supported, and given useful feedback, that’s when real improvement happens — not when they’re being judged by a number on a test.
Mia :)
ReplyDeleteI think when it comes to the evaluation process of teachers, there is a fixed mindset on professionalism. When truthfully some teachers have to lose their professional aspects to be actual good mentors for their students. For example not all teachers can dress as professionally as admin may want because of what they need to do in the classroom (sitting on the floor, running with students etc.)
Claire Cook:
ReplyDeleteI think that teacher evaluations are very important and could be very beneficial if they are done correctly. The Virginia Guidelines offer a more balanced approach to evaluations by adding more standards than just test scores. I think this is very important because student test scores are not the only thing that can determine how good a teacher is at teaching, there are so many other factors that go into a teacher's success at the end of the year. But that doesn't mean that test scores aren't important, they are still a very important part of evaluating a teacher but should not be the base of the entire evaluation. In order for evaluation to be truly effective, they should be based on the development of the students, rather than comparing student’s scores to each other because every student is going to learn differently and at different paces which shouldn’t reflect negativeley on the teacher.
I personally believe that teacher evaluations are much too rigid and rely too much on the effort and success of their students. I will argue on one side that a great teacher will find ways to motivate their classroom to do great things and be amazing students but on the other hand it is often out of their hands and there are far too many external factors that feed into a child's success or failure for that matter. This leads to unfair standards for teachers as a whole especially when comparing outside of their school. I imagine that it would be much harder for a teacher in an underserved district to be as successful on paper to a teacher in a very well served area.
ReplyDeleteI believe that an evaluation, just like with any other job, is a road map to success and something that should certainly collaborative when performed. If the teacher and admin are on the same page, have goals and expectations that align, and are able to positively communicate this, it would certainly be much more effective. If it is solely based on performance and the success/failure of the students, it puts far too much stress on a teacher to do things that might not serve their students well in the long run.
Ultimately this is a very slippery slope and while I understand that there must be a solid structure in place, that some places are probably much better in their ability to communicate and work with teachers on their evaluations and paths to success.
Aniyah Johnson-Lee
ReplyDeleteAs outlined in the VA guidelines and the Greene article, teacher evaluation raises important questions about fairness, effectiveness, and purpose. The VA guidelines emphasize multiple measures-- such as instructional delivery, student academic progress, and professionalism-- which aim to provide a balanced view of teacher performance. Now, when reading the Greene article, it criticizes overly rigid evaluation systems that rely too heavily on standardized test scores and data-driven metrics, going back and forth that they reduce teaching to a checklist and ignore deeper, relational aspects of the profession. In summary, a good evaluation should be fair, comprehensive, and supportive of professional growth, not punitive.
Alistair Here: As stated in Greenes Forbes article, it is difficult to review a teachers work, as the fruit of their labors are subjective and long term in yield. Pointed out as well that if we were to find a teachers work to be unsatisfactory, would we go about replacing them rather than working to repair their flaws? It is a tenet in the education system that every student succeeds, and this is a large pressure placed on our teaching force, especially considering their compensation and assistance being lackluster in that endeavor. We must apply this same effort to our teachers, helping them improve their methods or placing them in areas that they can succeed. That is not including every aspect of behavior, or the inevitability of each field that retirement serves.
ReplyDeleteNida-
ReplyDeleteWhile I do believe teacher evaluations are crucial in enhancing the performance of teachers and ensuring they deliver effectively to their students, I do not think that part of a teacher’s evaluation should be academic progress of their students. While I do understand that admin want to ensure that teachers are showcasing effective methods of learning that highlight that students are in indeed acquiring the necessary knowledge, every student is different especially when it comes to learning. There is no one-size fits all approach in learning and that is one of the hardest parts about being a teacher not only figuring out the dynamic between you and your class but catering and figuring out the needs of each individual.