Ellen Moir, NTC Founder and CEO
 

NTC is a regular contributor to EdSource Today, a California-based education blog. In this month's posting, Ellen Moir offers readers a surefire way to know whether a teacher evaluation system will succeed or fail. Read her August 13 post below: 

 

Like school districts all across the country, California's are figuring out the best way to evaluate teachers. The stark reality is that some districts will be successful in this, and others will not.

 

Whether a district's teacher evaluation system works or not will depend on a few things: whether the system is correctly conceived of and designed, how well the system is implemented, and, after evaluation, the district's level of commitment to ongoing teacher learning.

 

First and foremost, an evaluation system must be designed with the end goal in mind: to improve teacher effectiveness and student learning. If this sounds too obvious, take a look at the Center for American Progress' explanation about how some states have viewed evaluation as a means for firing so-called "bad" teachers, as a silver-bullet-style quick fix to dramatically improve education in the nation. It is naive to view evaluation solely as a means to rank teachers and make hiring and firing decisions. Fortunately, the debate is changing.  It is rising up to meet those of us who have long advocated that the best way to improve student learning is to continuously focus on advancing the instructional practice of teachers. Evaluation systems conceived under this philosophy will be the most likely to succeed.

 

Secondly, an evaluation system must be designed and implemented well. NTC's experience and research suggests that means:

• It is tied to standards and ensures educator performance is assessed against those standards;
• It is informed by data from a variety of sources, including measures of student learning and growth;
• It is a priority within the district, with dedicated time, training, and support provided to evaluators;
• It differentiates based on a teacher's level of experience or individual needs;
• It meets legal and ethical standards for employment decisions; and
• It is supported by the larger system (district, school board, union, etc.) that allocates sufficient time and resources to make it a developmental and meaningful experience not only for the educator being evaluated, but also for the evaluator.

As the dialogue on teacher evaluation has moved from "gotcha" to "growth", teachers have warmed to the idea of evaluations, provided that they incorporate the above, are based on multiple measures, and are done by evaluators who have had the necessary professional development to ensure, as best as possible, evaluations are fair and objective. Training for evaluators (for example, how to observe a classroom and how to provide meaningful feedback) is the first form of professional development that will contribute to the success of evaluation systems.

 

Lastly, there needs to be a commitment to educators' ongoing learning. Personalized professional learning plans should be created for each teacher as the final phase of any evaluation process. These plans should point teachers toward specific and highly relevant learning opportunities that allow them to address areas of instructional weakness. This will only happen when those responsible for evaluating, coaching, and mentoring teachers and principals are trained in the art of providing meaningful, developmental feedback, encouraging reflection, and creating opportunities for professional growth.

 

NTC has been doing this work for years with new teachers and principals. By working with us to provide new educators with the targeted support, meaningful feedback and relevant learning opportunities they need, our district partners benefit from remarkably effective new teachers and principals who improve student learning and remain committed to the profession.

 

It's critical that districts find ways to build these same principles into their evaluation systems because, when it comes down to it, a district's teacher evaluation system will succeed or fail based on its ability to improve teaching. And we can't afford to let California districts fail on this.

  

Read the Blog Post in EdSource  

 

I am pleased and excited to introduce Dalia Zabala as NTC Associate Director of Policy. Dalia brings a wealth of both policy and school-based experience to our team as well as a network of professional contacts that will offer new opportunities to deepen our policy impact.

 

Dalia comes to NTC from the American Federation of Teachers, where she served as an Assistant Director in the Educational Issues Department. At AFT, Dalia's work focused on standards, curriculum and assessment with a particular focus on the development and rollout of the Common Core State Standards. Her prior experience includes having served as a research assistant for the Center on Education Policy, under the then-leadership of Jack Jennings, and as an educator in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Dalia holds a B.A. from California State University Northridge and a Masters of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

 

Dalia began in July and is based in Washington, DC. You can contact her at dzabala@newteachercenter.org     

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) highlighted the prioritization of teaching quality in evaluation system design in a recent Education Outlook article by two Harvard University researchers. States have the ability to improve the quality of teaching by creating teacher evaluation systems that are aimed at improving teaching and learning, the authors argue. One of the proposed principles is to create a system that looks at the quality of teaching and not "teacher quality". The article also urges evaluation systems to use multiple measures beyond teaching, such as producing student achievement gains, which will aid teachers in differentiating instruction.

 

Read The Article