Teacher Evaluations

Teaching Evaluations
I have been at my current school for almost six years (I hit that mark next month!). In all these years, I have only been observed in the classroom three or four times. And that was in the first two years that I was here. Like most people, I was worried. What if I make a big mistake? What if I am not good enough? Even though I was nervous, I was also very excited. Why? Well, you see, I love teaching! I love it! So, I want to grow and become a better teacher, educator, whatever word you want to use. And one way to grow is by being observed and have my "skills" evaluated.

After my observations, I realized that I was worried over nothing. I love my school, however, the observation and evaluation process is not very thorough. I felt like I did not really learn that much about myself and my teaching abilities.

For my latest homework assignment with Teach Now, I saw a video about teacher observations and (one of) the evaluation process(es) that is involve. You can find the video here. I had a similar experience to it, but also a very different one. (That will be a post for another day.)

While working on this homework assignment, not only did I watch that video, I also learned a lot about some of the different approaches to teacher evaluation there are out there. I would like to briefly talk about two of them for now. Maybe in a future post I can go into more details about some other approaches that are used.

One of the best approaches I have seen is the system used by The New Teacher Program (TNTP): Teacher Evaluation 2.0. (Link here.) After reading it, I felt like this is (more or less) what I am looking for for me. Some of its main highlights are:

• Annual Process
• Clear, Rigorous Expectations
• Multiple Ratings
• Regular Feedback

I think every single one of these points is very important in a teacher evaluation!

A second system I looked at was the Texas Teacher Evaluation & Support System (T-TESS). Texas being my home state (go Houston!), I was curious about what it does in regards to this topic. With T-TESS, I not only like it because it is from my home state, I also like it because it meets what I said I was looking for in the above system. It has things like:

• Clear, Rigorous Expectations: I should add, very detailed as well!
• Multiple Ratings: 5 to be precise, from improvement needed to distinguised

A copy of their rubric can be found here. (The Texas Education Agency uses this system.)

Teach-Now Clinicals

I am not going to lie, there are, what seem like, a million criteria in most rubrics. However, for me personally and my clinical practice with Teach Now, the main areas I will be concerned with will be:

• Is there a nice atmosphere in the class? Is the environment good for learning? Does the teacher have a good rapport with the students?
• Are students engaged in the class? All? Most? Some? A few?
• What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?

In other words, I want useful feedback. Going back to the beginning of this post. The problems I had with my observations/evaluations at my current school, is that I felt like I did not receive useful feedback. After leaving the meeting, I did not feel like I learned something new about myself or my teaching style. I did not learn what areas I am doing well in or what areas need improvement. My school employs a very common rating system that is used throughout many schools: satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

I can honestly say that I am NOT a fan of this style of evaluation. I need a system that can help me know what my strengths and weaknesses are. What areas am I strong at, so that I can continue to do those things; what areas am I weak at, so that I can improve them. So, it seems to me, that I am looking for a system similar to the one used by T-TESS. After my clinicals, the thing I will look for the most will be if I was able to grow thanks to the feedback my mentor and teacher give me. I am greatly looking forward to the process!