Much has been written about how effective communication in the workplace can yield desired outcomes. If we accept the fact that better communication skills yield better results, then we should question the choice of education policymakers when they use the words, “teacher evaluation” as a buzz word.
I assume this word selection was meant to reflect the measure of teacher effectiveness for student achievement. The problem though, which many educators understand, is that teacher effectiveness is often only realized when there is effective leadership at every level.
Other well-known education advocates would agree…
“It’s not about fixing the teachers, it’s about fixing the system.” Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder, Teach For America; CEO and cofounder, Teach For All is quoted at a recent summit, Opportunity Nation.
“It all gets back leadership… I’ve been shocked by the inadequate training of principals….negative things in a school can change overnight just with a change in the principals.” John Pepper, Chairman of Board, The Walt Disney Company is quoted at a recent summit, Opportunity Nation.
There is also plenty of research to back up these opinions. The article, “How Leadership Influences Student Learning”, details the importance of leadership in schools.
In my own personal experience working as a school-based Speech Language Pathologist over the past 15 years in various schools across the country in big/small, urban/rural districts, I’ve seen leadership ranging from incompetent to outstanding with every degree in between. I have seen the same with educators. On one hand I find myself frustrated with the inability to get rid of bad teachers and on the other I am untrusting of leadership to make fair unbiased decisions or take responsibility for providing the teacher support necessary to maximize student achievement.
As a result of the research and teacher perceptions, I see two main obstacles for policymakers to address:
- Effective leadership is necessary for effective teaching and student achievement and should be a key part of the implementation of a teacher evaluation tool. Therefore, education policy around teacher evaluation should reflect this instead of overemphasizing teacher accountability.
- In addition, if you want to engage teachers in the evaluation process, they must take ownership and accept it as positive change towards elevating their profession and maximizing student achievement.
How can policymakers improve education policy, so that it is more effective for improving student learning and doesn’t raise teacher hackles?
Answer: The first step is to start using language that includes accountability for all participants in the system, including the leadership. Second, mean what you say by structuring the policy in a way that equally emphasizes accountability for all participants.
As an educator, I support an accountability system that maximizes student achievement and elevates teaching to an iconic level. However, this will only be achieved if all elements are in place and all participants are held accountable. As an educator volunteer and team leader for Hope Street Group, I worked with teachers around the country to use ideas backed up by much research to come up with 8 recommendations that we deemed necessary for an effective school-wide accountability system. These 8 recommendations were detailed in the report, Policy 2.0: Using Open Innovation to Improve Teacher Evaluation Systems, and are summarized below on the left side of the chart. The right side of the chart lists who is held responsible for facilitating and implementing those recommendations:
| Necessary for effective accountability | Who Is responsible? |
|---|---|
| Teacher engagement and collaboration with teacher associations in developing system | District administrators |
| Clearly defined standards of quality instruction used to assess teacher performance | District and school administrators, instructional leaders |
| Teacher evaluation tied to objective measures of student achievement gains | Teachers/service providers, administrators |
| Periodic evaluation and refinement of the accountability syste | District and school administrators |
| Supportive administrators and positive school environment | District and school administrators |
| Observation and feedback from quality instructional leaders who have sufficient expertise, training, and capacity | District and school administrators, instructional leaders |
| Teacher evaluation tied to meaningful outcomes that drive rewards and consequences | District administrators |
| Teacher Evaluation information used to ensure teacher equity within and across schools and districts | District and school administrators |
How often do you see the word “teacher” vs. “administrator”? Therefore, does the term “teacher evaluation system” fully capture who should be evaluated?
If state and district policymakers are looking to implement new evaluation policies, as an educator, I am looking for the elements on the left of this column to be in place before it gets my vote of support.
To teachers who are skeptical about a new evaluation system, I would say: Look at these recommendations and encourage your leaders to make positive changes in the system. This is our chance to do great things for student learning and to elevate our profession. It’s the chance to improve economic opportunity for our youth, which improves the economics of our country. It’s the chance to be our best, show our best and to be valued and rewarded for all of our vast knowledge and excellent practice.
So instead of saying, “I don’t want any part of that teacher evaluation system,” how about saying, “I am in favor of a new school-wide accountability system that includes the previously listed elements.”
Hopefully with the combined efforts of policymakers, school leaders, and teachers, we will change the emphasis of “teacher evaluation” systems to “school-wide accountability” systems that include an emphasis on the evaluation of school leaders.
