Limitations of Teacher Evaluation Systems

Video Transcription

Hi, my name is Ashley, and today's lesson is titled limitations of teacher evaluation systems.

In today's lesson, will discuss the limitations of teacher evaluations, according to two major teacher unions in the country-- the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers. Since a lot of teachers feedback is received from these two organizations, we'll look to see what they consider as limitations of current teacher evaluation models and their suggestions for improvement.

What are the limitations of teacher evaluation according to NEA? Teacher evaluation is a small part of what it takes to improve teaching and learning, according to the National Education Association. The NEA suggests aligning teacher standards and student standards into a comprehensive framework, in order to improve both teacher and student growth. The NEA provides the following recommendations. Initially, hire highly qualified teachers right from the beginning. Enhance teacher preparation programs and provide teachers with continuous, high quality professional development.

Other limitations of evaluation models according to the NEA, our models focus on penalizing measures that are used to measure individual teacher quality, rate and rank teachers, rewards for highest ranked teachers, and removing the lowest ranked teachers. The NEA does not agree that this approach meets the needs of the revaluation model, which is to improve the knowledge and skills of classroom teachers. In order to have a system that does just that, the NEA makes the following recommendations.

Have safe and open collaboration, where teachers feel comfortable with sharing their ideas and concerns. Use several ratings and clear teaching standards. Teaching standards should be easily understood by the teacher. Integrate systems that link evaluation processes.

Next, the NEA suggests you use effective and consistent measures. The revaluation model chosen should be a tool that will give precise information. Teacher's voice should also be allowed in the decision making process. And lastly, systems should be designed in collaboration with teachers.

What are the limitations of teacher evaluation, according to AFT? The American Federation of Teachers is another major teacher union, and also has suggestions to improve the limitations of teacher evaluations. The first suggestion is by understanding that alone, the teacher evaluation will not improve teacher effectiveness. Other components must be paired with it. The teacher should also have say and input on the evaluation process. This process should be something that teachers think positively about, and should rely on it, and know that it's going to support them as teachers as well as their students best interests.

Communication is key. Communication has to happen often and freely. Teacher evaluation is not a one man show. It should not be left up to the principal to do all the work. The evaluation process should be connected to professional development, and it must be realistic when considering the timeframe and the resources that are available.

Another suggestion made by AFT is the evaluation process should avoid giving the wrong message, and it should be aligned to school initiatives. Lastly, districts should work together in collaboration to revamp their evaluation systems.

So what did you learn today? Well, in today's lesson, we looked at the limitations of teacher evaluations, according to NEA and AFT. We also considered the suggestions for improvement made by each of the teacher unions. Both unions suggests that teachers should have input in the teacher evaluation model, and frequent and open communication should take place.

As you reflect on this material, go back and review the suggestions of NEA and AFT, and how they would benefit the teacher evaluation process. For more information on how to apply what you've learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks, useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource.