Comments on: How to Evaluate Teachers http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/04/11/how-to-evaluate-teachers/ Closing the Achievement Gap: Teaching Content Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:03:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Heather Wolpert-Gawron http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/04/11/how-to-evaluate-teachers/#comment-1812 Heather Wolpert-Gawron Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:56:47 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/04/11/how-to-evaluate-teachers/#comment-1812 I think we cannot talk about differentiation and not also use it when talking about teacher assessment. We cannot eliminate the use of test scores, but neither can we discount parental input, administrator observations, peer observations, leadership within the school, professional development, etc...We assess student success using a variety of measures, should we not use a variety of measures to evaluate teachers as well? I don't understand a one-way or the other, single-criteria concept of teacher evaluation. Evaluating any professional should be a complex equation made up of many variables to achieve a simple goal: is this person successful? I think we cannot talk about differentiation and not also use it when talking about teacher assessment. We cannot eliminate the use of test scores, but neither can we discount parental input, administrator observations, peer observations, leadership within the school, professional development, etc…We assess student success using a variety of measures, should we not use a variety of measures to evaluate teachers as well? I don’t understand a one-way or the other, single-criteria concept of teacher evaluation. Evaluating any professional should be a complex equation made up of many variables to achieve a simple goal: is this person successful?

]]> By: Adso of Melk http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/04/11/how-to-evaluate-teachers/#comment-1619 Adso of Melk Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:22:14 +0000 http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/04/11/how-to-evaluate-teachers/#comment-1619 With all due respect, I disagree with the idea that parents can provide adequate assessment of a teacher's performance. Primarily, teachers and parents come into contact when a serious issue takes place involving the student (i.e., when a parent is concerned about a student's grade or the student has broken the classroom rules for behavior). Even when the teacher is consummately professional and entirely in the right about the grade or behavior, parents are rarely pleased and tend to view her/him as the enemy. I'm also concerned about the fact that they simply do not *see* what teachers do on a daily basis. Interesting post. With all due respect, I disagree with the idea that parents can provide adequate assessment of a teacher’s performance. Primarily, teachers and parents come into contact when a serious issue takes place involving the student (i.e., when a parent is concerned about a student’s grade or the student has broken the classroom rules for behavior). Even when the teacher is consummately professional and entirely in the right about the grade or behavior, parents are rarely pleased and tend to view her/him as the enemy. I’m also concerned about the fact that they simply do not *see* what teachers do on a daily basis.

Interesting post.

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