Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness

1
Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness

• Christine Coombe
• Dubai Mens College

2
Why is it important?

• Teaching matters.
• Study after study confirms that Ss who have high
  quality Ts make significant and lasting learning
  gains
• Those with less effective Ts play a constant
  academic game of catch up
• Having high quality Ts consistently tops parents
  list of critical elements of an effective school

3
What is a good teacher?

• What do various groups within education mean when
  they talk about effective teaching practices?
• A variety of different perspectives
• Administrators
• Educational researchers
• Teachers
• Students

4
The Administrators Perspective

• Seymour Ericksen (1984) carried out a survey
  amongst education administrators.
• An outstanding teacher should be an inspired
  instructor who is concerned about students, an
  active scholar who is respected by discipline
  peers, and an efficient organized professional
  who is accessible to both students and teachers.
  (Ericksen, 1984 3 in Williams Burden, 1997)

5
The Educational Researchers Perspective

• In another survey, educational researchers listed
  the ideal characteristics of a good teacher.
• Clarity of presentation
• Variety of activities during lesson
• Achievement-oriented behavior in classrooms
• Opportunity to learn criterion materials
• Acknowledgement and stimulation of student ideas
• Lack of criticism
• Use of structuring comments at the beginning and
  during lessons
• Guiding of student answers
• (Rosenshine Furst, 1973 in Williams Burden,
  1997)

6
The Teachers Perspective

• Treats student as an individual 94
• Is enthusiastic and inspiring 77
• Has caring qualities 55
• Creates a rich learning environment 22
• Is funny 22
• Is spontaneous and flexible 22
• (Bress, 2000)

7
The Students Perspective

• (Brown McIntyre, 1992) surveyed Ss aged
  between 12 and 13 in the UK
• Creates a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere in
  class
• Retains control of the class
• Presents work in an interesting and motivating
  way
• Provides conditions so that Ss can understand the
  work
• Makes clear what Ss are to do and to achieve
• Judges what can fairly be expected from each
  student
• Helps Ss with difficulties
• Develops mature personal relationships with Ss
• Demonstrates personal knowledge of and talent for
  the subject
• Helps and encourages Ss to raise expectations of
  themselves

8
The Students Perspective

• Good teachers
• have a sense of purpose
• have expectations of success for all students
• tolerate ambiguity
• demonstrate a willingness to adapt and change to
  meet student needs
• are comfortable with not knowing
• reflect on their work
• learn from a variety of models
• enjoy their work and their students.
• (Hassatt, 2000)
• http//www.sabes.org/resources/adventures/vol12/12
  hassett.hm

9
The Students Perspective

• What Makes a Good Teacher? (1996) UNESCO
  publication
• Over 500 children from some 50 countries aged
  8-12 contributed their opinions.
• A great teacher Interacts with the child
  (physically/mentally)
• A great teacher gives affection to Ss, makes them
  understand what emotion is.
• A great teacher smiles to his/her Ss even when
  they make mistakes.
• A great teacher teaches not only textbook
  materials but also the truth that's happening
  outside. Practice balanced with theory.
• A great teacher is dedicated to the job.
• A great teacher understands that a child is not
  only a tiny bundle of joy that can cry, smile,
  laugh. He/she must understand that in front of
  him stands a true miracle of life.

10
Teacher Evaluation

• One of the most controversial issues in
  education.
• A complex and highly debated subject, it raises
  many diverse and difficult questions.
• Should one merely evaluate performance or
  critique and improve it?
• Should evaluation be used for tenure, merit pay
  or promotion?
• Should it focus on teaching competencies or
  student achievement?
• Can one person both supervise and evaluate?
• Who are evaluations supposed to help? the
  teacher, the student, the administrator?
• Who should be involved in the process?

11
What is Teacher Evaluation?

• Darling-Hammond (1983) defines it as collecting
  and using information to judge.
• Two types
• Formative (used to improve instruction)
• Summative (used to make personnel decisions)
• Most educationalists agree that the real purpose
  of evaluation is both to safeguard and to improve
  the quality of instruction received by students.
• Ts benefit most from formative evaluation when
  they have
• helped shape the Qs posed
• understood the feedback that is provided
• when assistance and resources for making
  improvements are available (Gaubatz, 2000)

12
Major Approaches to Teacher Evaluation

• ASCD publication Teacher Evaluation Six
  Prescriptions for Success (Stanley Popham,
  1988)
• Belief that TE should be proactive rather than
  reactive
• validity of evaluation depends on what happens
  before the evaluation
• summative evaluation is fair only if is based on
  many observations and is conducted by an
  adequately trained evaluator. (Hunter, 1988)

13
Major Approaches to Teacher Evaluation

• A duties-based approach
• In this system, a district must first decide what
  a teacher is hired to do and then go about
  deciding whether it has been done adequately or
  with excellence (Scriven, 1988)
• What teachers do, in and out of class, needs to
  be at the center of the evaluation (Scriven,
  1973).
• A cognitive-development view
• the premise is based on the belief that teaching
  is thinking
• key to educational improvement lies in upgrading
  the quality of teachers
• attempts to evaluate the invisible skills of
  thinking (Costa et al, 1988)

14
Major Approaches to Teacher Evaluation

• Judgment-based approach
• premise is that there is no escape from
  professional judgment/subjectivity in TE
• one can make decisions soundly and consistently
  if multiple data are collected and a high degree
  of objectivity is established
• calls for inclusion of numerous sources (minimum
  of three classroom observations done by different
  observers, student evaluation, review of Ts
  prepared materials and evidence of student
  growth)
• evaluation of documents should be undertaken by
  individual(s) outside the Ts school (Popham,
  1988)

15
Major Approaches to Teacher Evaluation

• Multiple-measures approach
• belief that a combination of a variety of methods
  can compensate for the shortcomings of using one
  method alone (Schulman, 1988)
• (portfolios, direct observation, better
  certification tests and assessment centers)

16
Evaluation Methods

• Present evaluation programs consist of varying
  combinations of the following components
• Teacher interview
• Competency testing
• Classroom observation
• Student ratings
• Peer review
• Student achievement
• Self-assessment
• Other indirect measures

17
Evaluation Methods

• Interviews
• One-on-one conference
• Mostly used to hire new Ts and communicate
  evaluation results to experienced Ts
• Competency testing
• National Teachers Examination (NTE) and Cambridge
  ESOLs Teaching Knowledge Test are examples of
  competency testing
• often used for initial certification and hiring
  decisions
• low correlations between NTE results and teacher
  performance
• no test has been developed to measure a teachers
  professional commitment, maturation of
  decision-making ability, and social
  responsibility
• all important criteria for effective teaching and
  learning

18
Evaluation Methods

• Classroom observations
• most popular evaluation method
• usually performed annually by school
  administrators for experienced Ts and more
  frequently for beginning Ts
• reveals info about such things as teacher
  interaction and rapport with Ss that is
  unavailable from other sources
• Peer review
• teaching colleagues observe each others
  classrooms and examine lesson plans, tests and
  graded assignments
• examines a wider scope of teaching activities
  than other methods

19
Evaluation Methods

• Student achievement
• standardized achievement exams are often used to
  evaluate Ts and school systems by ranking the
  student, class and school according to national
  norms
• Self-assessment
• method designed to supplement more formal
  evaluation methods
• used with other data to identify weak areas of
  instruction and classroom management skills

20
Evaluation Methods

• Indirect methods
• other good teacher descriptors have been
  examined to determine if they correlate with
  student achievement
• enthusiasm, humor, judgment, objectivity and
  punctuality
• Student ratings
• use of students ratings for evaluating teacher
  effectiveness is the single most researched issue
  in all of higher education
• over 2000 articles and books have been written on
  this topic over the last 70 years (Ory, 2001)

21
Contact Details

• Christine Coombe
• christine.coombe_at_hct.ac.ae