Welcome! You have likely landed here from the Interpreting Your Results page after taking the district’s evaluation system quiz (If you are thinking, “quiz, what quiz?” you can find it HERE). This is a longer article than I usually post, so you may want to bookmark or keep this tab open and pace yourself. 🙂
You may be asking yourself what you can do to be a better instructional leader within the contract parameters. Perhaps there are elements within the bargaining agreement that appear at odds with research-based best practices.
Fear not! Even if your district’s evaluation system scored at the EMERGING level, there are still improvements you can make as you build a more learning-focused culture at your school (stay tuned for more about this subject!).
Below you will find the following sections:
- The four categories present within the district evaluation system quiz.
- A list of the statistically significant attributes within the category followed by suggested changes you might make to maximize the impact of the evaluation system to support improved classroom instruction
The Four Categories
Contract Attributes
Recently updated or not, certification or calibration, rating structure and rubric, annual goals and objectives
Classroom Observation Practices
Pre-observation conference, formal and informal visits
Multiple Measures for Evidence of Practice
Self-reflection, peer feedback, achievement data, portfolio with student work
Perception of The Evaluation System
Purpose of the process: summative, formative, or both?
Make an IMPACT Where You Are Able
CONTRACT BEST PRACTICES
1. Require annual goals and objectives
2. Align them with school/district goals
3. Incorporate rubric with language of teacher practice for evaluation
4. Have three or more rating levels
5. Require regularly scheduled calibration/certification training for evaluators
I realize that many of the above listed best practices are out of your control as they are negotiated. However, there is the possibility for some latitude depending on the site or district culture around evaluation.
When I did the research for my dissertation, I read many articles about what were being touted as must-haves in order to create the most effective teacher evaluation process. In the original questionnaire I sent out to all 9-12 traditional high school administrators in California, included other recommended attributes that were eliminated as they were not statistically significant. The list of best practice, both here and in the following lists represent the characteristics that made the cut.
Of the 1,028 administrators who received the survey link, there were 138 respondents who completed the entire survey. Since I included all possible participants in the sample, I was working with a truly random sample of administrators (Yeah!). The respondents represented 31counties and 109 districts in the state of California. I also included an open-ended “is there anything else you would like to add” and had over 40 comments, which provided invaluable information about what site administrator “pain points” were around teacher evaluation.
I was COMPLETELY surprised by the number of participants who responded that their district did NOT require annual goals and objectives and only had two rating levels for the final summative evaluation report. In my experience as both a teacher and administrator these two attributes were CONSISTENTLY in the contract language for teacher evaluation. I guess I just assumed everyone had those elements.
What was not surprising was the number of respondents whose districts did NOT require certification or calibration annually or otherwise. I have been in districts where the contract language is there, but the practice is not. The criticism that administrators were not properly trained and therefore had a wide range of practice (mostly ineffective) was a common theme in the teacher evaluation literature that included teacher voices.
The bottom line for this category is:
- while annual goals and objectives may not be required contractually, you can work with your teachers informally to make this a site practice. Side note, the most effective practice according to my research was when teacher and administrator develop and mutually agree upon the goals, which are aligned to school and district goals.
- even if your district does not require a certification or calibration, you, as the instructional leader of your school are able to continue to sharpen your teacher evaluation practice saw (shout out to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey ).
Remember to scroll to the bottom of the page and sign up for the second part of the teacher evaluation system quiz, how YOU personally implement teacher evaluation. Where you will have access to more information about how to quickly get better!
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION BEST PRACTICES
1. Requiring pre-observation conference before formal observations
2. Allowance for short frequent informal walk-throughs with informal follow-up feedback
As mentioned previously (I think), my original survey had many questions that were later eliminated as they were found to NOT be statistically significant. Most of them came from this category.
At my last district, I served as a central office director in the educational services department and was able to serve on the teacher’s association bargaining team as an administrative member. This experience was so valuable and I am eternally grateful for what I learned from the process, especially in light of the years I had spent researching teacher evaluation systems.
The most enlightening discovery for me was how much time was spent negotiating the number of formal and informal observations allowable and maximum duration of an informal observation for it to be considered an informal (any longer and it could be classified as a formal observation). I had encountered this phenomenon as a site administrator (both elementary and secondary) since these were the articles in the contract that were often the subject of teacher grievence.
The items that were eliminated from the survey had to do with these very issues – the frequency and duration of classroom observations. The two characteristics of classroom observations that were statistically significant and predictive of overall effective evaluation practice were the inclusion of a pre-observation conference and allowance for short frequent informal walk-throughs that INCLUDED timely informal feedback. This is where I got to use multiple regression, which led to inclusion of 36 tables that no one could understand. 🙂
I’ll say more about these two best practices when you take the next quiz on your own personal practice. I recognize that frequent informal classroom visits are not usually specifically addressed in evaluation articles of the contract, so I will tread lightly when addressing this MEGA IMPORTANT aspect of teacher evaluation and supervision.
Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up!
MULTIPLE MEASURES BEST PRACTICES
1. Inclusion of student work products (NOT TEST SCORES!) in post-observation conversations
2. Perception surveys from peers, parents, and students (BE SURE TO READ THE INFO BELOW FOR DETAILS)
3. Teacher reflection about practice (may include teacher-created portfolios)
This category was tricky to navigate as there are more than a few trigger words for teachers – student work product and perception surveys to name two). For me, the spirit of this category was more about including other measures of practice rather than basing the entire evaluation on a couple of classroom observations.
Interestingly, California Education Code does include language regarding the use of student achievement data as part of the evaluation process is clear (as mud):
(a) The governing board of each school district shall establish standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level in each area of study. (b) The governing board of each school district shall evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to : (1) The progress of pupils toward the standards established pursuant to subdivision (a) and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments.
My research findings aligned with much of the literature on the use of student achievement scores. It was NOT statistically significant as valid measure of teacher performance. What the literature did include was the use of student work products (formative assessments, writing, project artifacts) as evidence for discussion and teacher reflection.
Perception surveys, administered well, could be very valuable evidence for teachers and administrators to reflect upon. I do not have examples to share here, but will address how this might be incorporated into FORMATIVE discussions in a future post. It sounds scary to most, but before dismissing it completely, I think we should at least investigate the possibilities.
Teacher portfolios were mentioned, which I imagined could be suggested to teachers who were so inclined (FULL DISCLOSURE – I would have been one of those teachers who would have taken advantage of this because I felt my evaluators did not really know all that was going on in my classroom and this would have helped). As a site administrator, I would have appreciated seeing a what the teacher perception was about evidence of their practice in student work over time.
Did I already mention that scrolling down to the bottom of the page is a sign-up for the second part of the teacher evaluation and supervision story?
EVALUATION SYSTEM PERCEPTION BEST PRACTICE
Common understanding that the evaluation process although both formative and summative, has a greater purpose in supporting growth in teacher practice (I know, in a perfect world)
This category probably presents the most challenge, but really becomes the most important factor in determining the effectiveness of a teacher evaluation system. One of the common themes among the comments I received from my administrator evaluation practice survey was the frustration about the perceived limitations due to contract language. Many described their district’s evaluation system as “meaningless” to both them and their teachers.
Changing your personal practice to a more formative, even though the summative part of the system will still be there would go a long was to influence your own perception and eventually, the perception of many of the teachers at your site. I know, there will always be some that cannot or will not be able to adapt to the notion of “formative” evaluation. From my own experience as an educational services director, trying to help teachers understand “formative evaluation” was a never-ending struggle. This will not be easy, it will take time. Think of Math Practice Standard #1 Make sense of problems and PERSEVERE in solving them.
In Conclusion (For NOW)
The major purpose of my work and frankly, my passion is to provide high quality resources to support you, the school administrator who is responsible for teacher evaluation and supervision! My hope is that you got a sense of that when you read this post. I believe that teacher quality IS an equity issue and the role of the site administrator is to ensure that the most effective instruction is happening everyday in every class for every student.
Here is my formula for getting started: Step one is to know what is happening in your classrooms. Step two is to focus on targeted outcome – say student engagement and talk about how you define exemplary practice. Step three is to visit classrooms EVERYDAY and follow up with learning-focused questions that will stretch teacher practice.
Of course there is more to the story, but these steps WILL improve your instructional program. REALLY! I am here to support you and will be regularly posting timely information about the evaluation and supervision cycle. I would love to hear what you think, especially what road blocks you are facing with the implementation. The goal right now is to GET BETTER. I know you can do it because you are an INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER!
#instructionalleadershipmatters
OKAY, YOU ARE FINALLY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. QUICK, SIGN UP FOR PART TWO OF THE TEACHER EVALUATION QUIZ!
- Part Four of Building a Learning-Focused Culture in Four Parts: Evaluating Progress - September 20, 2022
- Part Three of Building a Learning-Focused Culture in Four Parts: One Classroom at a Time - September 30, 2020
- Part Two of Building a Learning-Focused Culture in Four Parts: Taking Stock - September 14, 2020