WILMINGTON, MA – Wilmington School Superintendent Mary DeLai published her weekly blog post on Monday, discussing her position on teacher evaluations and the need to support educators. Read DeLai’s blog post HERE or below:
With next week being National Teacher Appreciation Week, I began thinking about the role that we all play in supporting our teachers and making them feel appreciated. There are stories published each and every day that vilify teachers and attempt to lay at their feet blame for all that is not right with education today – most of which is beyond their control. The conversations typically turn to increased accountability and its close relative, teacher evaluation.
Teacher evaluation has been the subject of much dialogue and debate over the past five to seven years. Many attribute the renewed debate to Race to the Top initiatives or No Child Left Behind waiver applications. While neither or both may be entirely to blame, the more important question is, “are teacher evaluation systems improving instruction in our classrooms?”
Employee evaluations have been a mainstay of corporate culture for decades. I believe it is important to provide feedback to employees and most research backs this up. Personally, I feel that some of my most significant professional learning and growth came from feedback received during my evaluations. What is most important is that the evaluation system focus on supporting and improving employee performance not merely measuring and reporting on it.
With respect to education, a compelling body of evidence suggests that the effectiveness of the teacher in the classroom is critical to student achievement. As a corollary, successful school leaders are those that create the conditions for strong teaching and learning to occur in our schools. Thus, the reported goal of an evaluation system is to ensure that each classroom is taught by an effective teacher and each school is led by an effective leader.
In May of 2010, Massachusetts submitted its Race to the Top grant application to the federal government. That application committed the state to developing and implementing a new educator evaluation system. Prior to submitting this application, survey results showed that only 16% of teachers had been evaluated on an annual basis using consistent standards of performance.
In June of 2011, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted regulations for the evaluation of all Massachusetts educators. According to the Board, the regulations, which apply to both administrators and teachers throughout the state, were designed promote growth and development of administrators and educators. In response to these regulations, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) developed the Model Evaluation System. By the fall of 2013, all districts either adopted this model system as outlined or to adapted it, with the approval of the Department, to a district’s unique context. The Massachusetts system is comprised of five cycles designed to encourage and promote teacher reflection, goal setting, and attention to student learning and growth, as well as student feedback.
In many states, heated debate stems from the use of standardized test scores to determine an educator’s overall performance rating. For example, in New York, fifty percent of an educator’s performance rating is based on standardized test scores. The controversy over this approach stems from research that suggests that there are far too many factors in beyond the classroom teacher that impact student achievement. In some cases, the use of student feedback is the subject of much dialogue as well.
It does appear that Massachusetts took a more rationale approach in its development of our educator evaluation system. For example, in Massachusetts, student growth does not determine what an educator’s performance rating will be. Instead, it is used as one of two determinants of the plan to which an educator will be assigned. The type of plan determines the level of support and involvement by school leadership, similar to how a district’s state accountability rating determines the level of involvement by the state. In addition, while educators are required to solicit student feedback (and administrators, staff feedback), districts retain flexibility with respect to how that information is used in the evaluation process. Most districts utilize student feedback as one piece of evidence of educator performance and/or as part of the self-assessment and goal setting process in the subsequent school year.
What is important to emphasize is that educator evaluation is highly contextual. When the state issues reports on the percentage of educators or administrators who are rated as exemplary, proficient, needs improvement, or unsatisfactory, ratings contain some element of subjectivity, even with a robust rubric of standards of effective practice and performance levels. The remedy to this is stronger calibration, something we work on continuously through such practices as instructional rounds, viewing online instructional videos and engaging in comparative analysis of practice, and collaborating with educators to examine and discuss observational and evaluative feedback together.
Each year, when educator ratings are published for school districts in Massachusetts, I would discourage the practice of comparing our districts’ ratings with those of other districts for the reasons cited above. Focusing on “the numbers” detracts from the true purpose of educator evaluation, namely promoting learning and growth of individual employees as opposed to measuring “competency” levels. As with any evaluation system, we need to recognize and reward effective instructional practice where it exists and provide professional development for those areas in which educators or administrators struggle. The goal should be continuous improvement of practice for the benefit of all students. To that end, conversations are more important than ratings, and supports are more important than criticism.
So, next week, during National Teacher Appreciation Week, let’s be sure to support our educators and, rather than criticize, let’s instead thank them for all that they do each and every day to support our children!
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