A recent feed from Edutopia entitled "An Opportunity for the NEA to Redefine the Teaching Profession" covers the controversial issue of the new teacher evaluation system. According to the article the NEA has stood silent on this issue as teachers rights have been attacked all across the country. However, the author sees the NEA's role as critical in these uncharted times. The overall tone of the article is that this is an opportunity for teachers and administrators everywhere to move the profession in a positive direction.
I've had the opportunity to participate in some of the planning for what teacher evaluation will look like for our school in the future. While this new evaluation process does seem to hold some promise for improving schools, it also has some pieces that are pretty scary. One of my biggest issues with the process is the use of achievement data as part of the evaluation. I wouldn't mind so much if the achievement data was specifically tied to the subject that I teach, but it isn't. Reading is one of the scores that has been identified as an indicator of teacher proficiency. While we use reading in history and work on specific techniques for working with text within our discipline, we never specifically teach reading in class. Further, there is no such thing as a reading class beyond middle school. This is not because we do not value reading, rather reading is not included in any state mandated curriculum.
Content expectations are handed down to us with the expectation that these items will be presented in all schools. It seems to me that if reading was one of the things that they wanted to use as a measurement tool, they would want to have classes at all levels of education to continue growth. Actually, it doesn't seem like they would...this seems like a typical move.
I do believe that there are some teachers out there that should leave the profession. Further, if I am ever found to be incompetent and it is shown to me that I can not teach effectively I will leave the profession with no questions asked. Student growth is our primary objective and I would never want to compromise that regardless of the circumstances. However, I do want to be fairly and not based on something that a legislator (who may have never worked a day in education) dreamed up.
Today in Michigan, our governor signed into law that will dismantle the tenure system in public education. Teachers will receive seniority based on evaluations. The evaluation process has not be developed yet, probably for some of the reasons you mentioned in your post.
ReplyDeleteHere is another concern: I teach the specials, computers, music, gym and sometimes art. How am I going to be evaluated if test scores and student achievement is one of the criteria for evaluation? Do I get a cut of every students' score? None of my areas of study have standardized tests so where will acceptable data come from? I could go on, but I know you get the point.
I am not opposed to establishing firmer guidelines to teachers' performance, but I hope that the guidelines are fair and equitable to all teachers.