Measuring up

Abstract

Exactly what I needed." That's how Principal Ramirez described the new teacher evaluation system her district was piloting. With training and support on using her district's framework for evaluating teacher performance, Ramirez became accustomed to using evidence to rate her teachers' practice and was enthusiastic about the system's potential for improving their instruction. (All names in this article are pseudonyms.) Moving teacher evaluation systems from measuring teachers' performance to improving their practice requires much greater attention to communication and support.

Teaching Strategies and Effectiveness of Public Elementary Teachers in Davao City Division

“…The true assessment of a teacher's effectiveness is often overlooked, as highlighted by Hart et al (2014), who stress the importance of providing training and support for teachers and evaluators to understand the educational system and its objectives. They advocate for moving beyond mere review of ratings and evidence to engaging in in-depth discussions aimed at promoting instructional improvement.…”

Reclaiming Instructional Supervision: Using Solution-Focused Strategies to Promote Teacher Development

“…To be clear, what we offer in this conceptual article is a reclaiming of instructional supervision as an ongoing and formative act of “assistance for the enhancement of teaching and learning” (Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, 2014, p. 9), not to be confused with “summative evaluation” for the purpose of contract extension, renewal, or teacher tenure (S. P. Gordon, personal communication, February 22, 2016). In line with this focus on formative and continuous improvement, engaging in productive dialogue is an important skill (Hart, Healey, & Sporte, 2014), but initiating and sustaining these conversations require knowledge and the ability to establish a climate where teachers feel comfortable enough to risk talking about the realities of their classroom practice. Thus, administrators need strategies for promoting critical self-reflection in their teachers.…”