Should High Schools Require Student Evaluations Of Teaching? Essay

As schools across the nation look for a uniform method to evaluate teachers’ performances, concerns about both methods are highlighted. NYC is using the Danielson Framework to evaluate teachers this year; some concerns have been brought up by administrators and the teachers union. In the piliot program it was noted by one administrator that “some of her teachers are not scoring as high on the rubric as she would expect — precisely because the rubric expects the same general characteristics in all grades” (Cromidas, 2012). This is because in the Danielson Framework the observer is looking for weather a teacher is doing the behavior or not. Check mark - there is no distinction between a new teacher and a veteran teacher. The other thing that administrators are noting that the “practicing observing teachers using Danielson had proved to be time-consuming” (Cromidas, 2012). It is recommend that they observer spends a number of informal observations lasting at least 15 minutes in the classroom before the official observation and that the report be turned around in 48 hours to the teacher.

As a student you are evaluated everyday, but have you ever desired to be the one doing the grading? This is a thought provoking idea. Teachers grade students on almost everything these days; including participation and behavior. So wouldn’t it be nice to return the favor? Although it may sound like a great idea, it could also be a very bad one. If students were able to grade their teachers it could provide proper and thorough evaluation; help teachers to improve on what they may be lacking, and help parents understand what is going on in the classroom; but at the same time it could prove to be harmful to the student and a good teacher’s career if not implemented correctly. This is why it’s important to recognize the possible positive

One source states, "while using student test scores to rate teachers may seem intuitive, researchers say it actually

The techniques used in evaluating effectiveness of teachers have changed over time together with the definition of effective teaching. These changes have been brought by increased federal and state supervision of accountability of teachers both in schools and in class. Most researchers concede that good teaching is crucial and a key factor in improving students performance. However, researchers have not agreed on the best way of measuring teachers’ effectiveness, because there is no consensus on what constitutes an effective tutor. Some of the traditional methods that have been employed in measuring teachers’ effectiveness include classroom observations meant to compare tutoring practices against certain standard measures (Gay, Mills &

Should K-12 student surveys of their teachers be used to determine whether they get a boost in salary or be judged effective or ineffective? Based on surveys given to students about their teachers over the past decade, student judgments about their teachers are highly correlated with test scores. These questions measure classroom control and the degree to which teachers challenge students to work harder with academic content and skills. The New Teacher Project, a national nonprofit based in Brooklyn that recruits and trains new teachers, last school year used student surveys to evaluate 460 of its 1,006 teachers. In higher education, students have evaluated their professors’ teaching and course content for decades. Controversial or not in higher education, reform-driven policymakers and foundation officials, eager to find another metric beyond unstable end-of-year test scores that simply and inexpensively judges K-12 teacher performance, look to researchers to quantify student perceptions of how and what their teachers teach. Not, however, if student perceptions of teaching are sliced and diced to fit into little boxes that can be checked off by principals and superintendents to determine teacher effectiveness and pay.

Education is constantly changing. Every year, new curriculum is introduced into the minds of students and teachers alike. Along with new teaching techniques, new processes to increase teacher effectiveness are being implemented in every public school in America. Unfortunately, many of the new techniques and processes are not permanent solutions. Today, many problems face the Education system, stemming from the undervaluing of teachers in public schools. Primary and secondary school teachers are not valued as teachers anymore, rather than a commodity to babysit children, This problem stems from the absence of communication, and the lack of an objective teaching measurement tool. In this essay, these problems and sub-conflicts residing in the main issues will be analyzed, along with the solutions to these issues.

I chose to focus on this topic because it is a topic that I have strong feelings about when it comes to education. It is a topic that is highly debated in our country and is a program that is said to fix the problem that some say we have in public education. In fact, we see this topic being discussed by the President and Secretary of Education as they have instituted the 4.3 billion dollar "Race to the Top" to enforce student achievement data into teacher evaluations and help enforce the concept of pay for performance. In this paper, we are going to look at performance pay and how we use student achievement to base a teacher 's effectiveness and if it is truly an effective way of helping increase our nation 's educational success.

Today, a teacher would be hard pressed to find a classroom that isn’t differentiated with student’s who possess a myriad learning styles. Because of this differentiation, the classroom is more multi-dynamic than ever. One of the most pressing issues for teachers today evolves from meeting the various learning styles this differentiation presents and ensuring that each student masters the same core principles, curriculum requirements and skills. Four of the basic practices: assessment, evaluation, grading and feedback; all present a set of unique challenges in their own right. In education there seems to be many debates over the meaning these terms. Most do not have “clearly distinctive definitions...Assessment is often referred to as the

However, standards-based observations create a rigorous, objective, and measurable rubric for educators to evaluate the quality of teacher performance: unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, and distinguished. These clear observation scales limit subjective bias given that it is clearly defined assessment rubric. However, accountability measures linked to a “limited sample of instruction can potentially effect reliability” and increase educational budget costs for administrative evaluation To that end, a teacher’s instructional performance does not correlate with student achievement nor does it measure other qualities, such as “soft-skills”.

Crooks,T (1988). The Impact of Classroom Evaluation Practices on Students, Review of Educational Research, 58 (4), pp. 438- 481

Student achievement is the underpinning of education and is directly correlated to teacher effectiveness; therefore,

Teachers’ performance evaluation is definitely not a new trend. However, what is new is the deep

Few issues have created more controversy among educators than those associated with grading and reporting student learning. Despite the many debates and multitudes of studies, however, prescriptions for best practice remain elusive. Although teachers generally try to develop grading policies that are honest and fair, strong evidence shows that their practices vary widely, even among those who teach at the same

Concerning first research question, the study recommends that university curriculum should be modified so that assessment of students’ performance should take into account both academic abilities and the work done for the learning institution and community. This will enhance the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills. In the same spirit, university management should move towards applying outcome-based education (OBE) in handling teaching and learning instructions at university education. This will adequately prepares graduates with values and skills to face challenges in life and at work places in the 21st Century.

Teaching is an art that cannot be mastered; no perfect method exists and often the lines between teacher and student blur. Being a teacher requires balancing the two, keeping in mind the duties of a teacher as well as your own shortcomings. “Good teaching is forever pursuing better teaching; it is always dynamic and in motion, always growing, learning, developing, searching for a better way (Ayers 160).” Tests have always been a quality assessment of learning and ability, but they don’t accurately evaluate every aspect of an individual’s competence. Memorization and regurgitation of information remain valuable life skills, but cannot be the sole source of an individual’s abilities in a particular area. Teaching is a mean to bring out the potential from within youth and prepare them to be adults in the outside world. In the United States, we teachers ready students to live in a democratic country and not fear for their freedoms. Testing can track progress, however, promise cannot be determined by a few sheets of paper with a grade written at the top.