Teacher Evaluation

By Zalino Bona

As someone looking in from the outside, teacher evaluation in the United States appeared to be a controversial and contentious issue causing big rifts between teachers and policy makers. However, having had the opportunity to study it in some detail this week, albeit not in depth as I would have loved to, I have come to understand a bit more about some of the issues faced by stakeholders on both sides of this seemingly divisive topic.

Two teacher evaluation approaches that I have looked at are:

1.       The traditional system which is characterized by:

-          ‘outmoded evaluative criteria, usually in the form of checklists with simplistic evaluative comments, such as "needs improvement," "satisfactory," and "outstanding" without any consistency as to what those words mean. (Danielson, 2011)

-          evaluation based mostly on classroom observation.

2.       The Framework for Teaching which identifies those aspects of a teacher’s responsibilities that have been documented through empirical studies and theoretical research as promoting improved student learning… to define what teachers should know and be able to do in the exercise of their profession. (Danielson, 2011)

In the Framework approach, teacher performance is judged by teacher practice and effectiveness in the classroom and impact on student learning. Some states, Tennessee (TVAAS) and New Jersey for example, have included value-added measures to their systems. Value-added measures, or growth measures, are used to estimate or quantify how much of a positive (or negative) effect individual teachers have on student learning during the course of a given school year. (Edglossary.org) Test results, combined with other information about students, are used to determine a “value-added score” for a teacher.

In the New Jersey system, teachers are evaluated based on multiple measures: Teacher Practice (based on classroom observation) + student achievement which includes student growth objective set by teacher and principal + student growth percentile (based on state assessment performance) = Summative rating which is the overall evaluation score.

Standards for assessing teacher practice must include evidence of both good teaching practice and student learning. (AFT) NEA observes that ‘more than 25 new or proposed state laws and regulations regarding teacher evaluation focused on using evidence of student learning or achievement in the evaluation process.’ Based on these observations, it seems reasonable to conclude that evaluations of teacher effectiveness should be based on multiple measures, including teacher practice, based on classroom observation, and student achievement.

The problems of teacher evaluations seem to arise from focusing too heavily on students’ test scores as evidence of teacher effectiveness. Perhaps mistakes were made in the past, and actions taken that harmed rather than helped some teachers and schools, but as pointed out by experts: ‘If used appropriately and thoughtfully, the results of student test scores can provide useful information to enhance the quality of educator effectiveness determinations.’ (Colorado Education Initiative, 2014)

Based on what I have learned about this topic, elements that I think should be included in teacher evaluations are:

• Effectiveness in creating a positive learning environment
• Effectiveness in communicating goals/content and reaching out to diverse learners
• Effectiveness in the classroom which should include evidence of student learning

References:

Danielson, Charlotte. (2011, December 2010). Evaluations that help teachers learn. The Effective Educator. 68 (4) 35-39 Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec10/vol68/num04/Evaluations-That-Help-Teachers-Learn.aspx

Hull, Jim. (2013, October).Trends in teacher evaluation: At a glance. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from  http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/teacherevalreview

Teacher Development and Evaluation. American Federation of Teachers. Retrieved from

 https://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation

Teacher Evaluation: A Resource guide for National Education Association Leaders and staff. NEA. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYfzjQoASL_eGdtNFdsbXRIRDQ/view

The Teacher Evaluation Overview. (n.d.). AchieveNJ. Department of Education. Retrieved form http://www.nj.gov/education/AchieveNJ/teacher/

Pre-Assessment for Differentiation

By Zalino Bona

“Pre-assessment provides valuable information about what is already known about a topic and readiness to start new instruction.” – Carol Ann Tomlinson

 Classrooms today have a wide range of diversity in terms of experiences and abilities. If we want to ensure that we meet the needs of every student in our class, we need to know what they already know, so that we can create lessons that are engaging and at the right instructional level. “Knowing what students know and can do when they come into the classroom or before they begin a new topic of study, can help us craft instructional activities that build off of student strengths and acknowledge and address their weaknesses.” (Eberly Center, 2008)

A pre-assessment will help me to know what the students know about the topic, what they are able to do, and where I should begin with each student or group of students. For this Literacy unit on using ‘Asking Questions’ as a comprehension strategy, I will begin by giving them a pre-assessment on Kahoot.

Link to my Kahoot Quiz:

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/fceba940-5857-4725-b433-e5a967daf05e

Based on the results, I will put the students into three groups:

1.      Group of 5 students who know how to use this strategy and answered the questions on thin and thick questions correctly: This group will work independently on the assignments which will include using sticky notes to write down questions before, during and after reading, gathering information in a graphic organizer, identifying thin and thick questions, identifying important questions, and working in twos/threes to discuss and refine their questions.

2.      Group of 12 students who have some knowledge about the 'asking questions' strategy, but needs to learn to use this strategy: I will review the strategy, teach them to use sticky notes and graphic organizers to write down their questions and gather information. This group will learn about thin and thick questions, before working in pairs to discuss and refine their questions.

3.      Group of 5 students who have limited knowledge about the ‘asking questions’ strategy: I will work with this group by- 

-          introducing the strategy and explaining that good readers ask questions

-          explaining that we use this strategy to gain information and to better understand what we are reading.

-          Modelling the strategy using the ‘I do it’ ‘We do it’ ‘You do it’ learning strategy

-          Showing how sticky notes and graphic organizers help us to keep track of our questions and to gather information

-          Introducing different types of questions: thin and thick questions, and identifying important questions

-          Having students work independently on reading and asking questions

-          Putting students in two groups to discuss and refine their questions

Here is a chart that shows how I will differentiate learning for my students:

References:

Assessing prior knowledge. (2008). Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Retrieved from: https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/priorknowledge.html

Pendergrass, Emily. (2013, December/ 2014, January). Differentiation: It starts with Pre assessment. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec13/vol71/num04/Differentiation@_It_Starts_with_Pre-Assessment.aspx

Pre-assessment ideas. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/lrtsas/differentiation/5-preassessment-ideas

Problem or Opportunity?

By Zalino Bona

A high-stakes test, as defined in the Glossary of Education Reform, is “any test used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts, most commonly for the purpose of accountability.”

High Stakes tests have become a hot topic in educational circles in many countries as stake-holders and others in the field of education are getting increasingly concerned about the effect these tests have on students, teachers, and schools. In many Asian countries, where good results in these tests open doors to good colleges, it is expected that students will be put under a lot of pressure to do well. Teachers and schools also come under immense pressure because the results of their students are taken as an indication of the quality of teachers and schools.

In countries like India and Korea, where the pressure is very high on students to perform well, there are reportedly increasing cases of suicides among young people. (MaCaskill and Ashreena, 2014, Voices of Youth, n.d.) Family, school, and the society’s expectations along with their individual aspirations put a lot of pressure on many young people. These added to lack of proper emotional and psychological support lead many young people to take their lives when they do not do well in their tests.

In the United States, according to Popham, “the nation's public schools are evaluated annually under the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act,” which puts educators in public schools “under tremendous pressure to improve their students' scores on whatever NCLB tests their state has chosen.” (Popham, 2005) “These tests are tied to consequences for districts, schools and teachers as well as students.” (Kamenetz, 2015). Great pressure is put on teachers and schools to perform at a high level. As a result, you hear stories of teachers who are “tempted to adopt unethical practices during the administration or scoring of accountability tests” (Popham, 2005), or of “the entire school experience being distorted by these tests because the school is worried only about kids who are just on the edge of passing or failing the tests.” (Kamenetz, 2015) With these examples of what Kamenetz calls “perverse response to incentives,” it is no wonder that students, parents, and educators in some countries, and specifically in the United States, are asking serious questions about the tests their children are taking.

However, these high stakes test are seen in a positive light in many countries. In an international school in the Middle East, tests like the SAT, AP, TOEFL, etc. are offered, but not required. Only students who want to get into colleges in the United States take them. For these students who need good scores to be admitted into good colleges, these high-stakes tests are seen as opportunities. The students take responsibility for these test, and they usually perform well because the outcomes affect their future. In these cases, the tests do not put a lot of pressure on teachers or the school because the results are not tied to consequences for teachers or the school. Students at the elementary level take some tests, like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (which was recently changed to MAP test), but as the consequences are not very high (The results do not contribute to student’s final grade, or affect sanctions/funding for the school), the pressure to perform is not very great. Teachers would spend a week or so, going over some concepts in their classes (especially concepts they would be covering after the tests), but they are not as big a deal as they seem to be in some other countries.

In an international school in India, till recently, all students were required to take high stakes tests like GCSE, AP, SAT, etc. However, as the school’s focus is changing and moving towards real-life educational experiences, and not so much on how well a student can perform in a test, these high stakes tests are no longer mandatory. They are taken only by students who choose to do so. And as most students from this school go to the US or the UK for higher studies, and others into prestigious colleges in India, the tests are a big deal for them and the outcomes of these tests affect them greatly. For instance, a student who wanted to get into the London School of Economics needed to get a score of 5 in five subjects in the AP exams, so the stakes were extremely high for him, and he was under a lot of pressure to reach that goal. However, for teachers and the school, the pressure was not as great. In cases like these, students take responsibility for their own performance.

With the negative rap high stakes test are getting in some countries, I think we, as educators, need to be careful about how we approach and interpret these tests. “Tests, along with student grades and teacher evaluations, can provide critical measures of students' skills, knowledge, and abilities.” (APA n.d.) ”It's what allows you to get outside of your one individual school, and be able to answer the question, 'How is my son or daughter doing compared to other kids across the entire state,'" says Zurkowski, the Executive Director of Assessment for the Colorado Department of Education.  

Tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are helpful because they help countries to see where their students are in comparison to students in other educational systems. PISA tests are different from other tests in that they test students’ ability to apply what they learn in schools. They test “if students can use their learning in real life situations and problems” (Edu Skills OECD, 2011).  PISA’s results help governments rethink their policies to improve their students’ performance in school. The look at their educational system and compare them with others to see how they can improve their programs. PISA’s aim is to help governments to use their survey findings to improve their own teaching and student performance. (Edu Skills, 2011) If tests can be used to help policy makers to make good decisions regarding the education of their children, I think that is a positive use of test results.

In conclusion, I think what is important is that we have a clear and specific purpose for including these tests in our educational system. Whether we see them as problems or as opportunities would depend on how we use them. While it is true that a school’s test scores say something important about its academic success, scores do not provide the whole story.” (GreatSchools, 2013). We also need to remember that not all students are good test takers. “Many students are affected by test anxiety or do not show their learning well on a standardized test, resulting in inaccurately lower scores.” (Fairtest, 2007) So, high stakes tests alone cannot be taken as an indicator of teacher or school quality. However, if test results give classroom teachers important information on how well individual students are learning and provide feedback to the teachers themselves on their teaching methods and curriculum materials (APA, n.d.), and if it is true that they can provide useful information that can be used to inform instruction,  then I would say it is worth hanging on to these tests.  And until educators and policy makers come up with a better option, I think high stakes tests are not going anywhere any time soon.

References:

Appropriate use of high-stakes testing in our nation's schools. (n.d..) Retrieved from

http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/brochures/testing.aspx

Erdahl, Kent. (2014, March 29). Parents protest against standardized testing by opting kids out. Retrieved from http://kdvr.com/2014/03/27/parents-protest-against-standardized-testing-by-opting-kids-out/

The Dangerous Consequences of High-Stakes Standardized Testing. (2007). Retrieved from: http://fairtest.org/dangerous-consequences-highstakes-standardized-tes

International comparisons of achievement. (n.d.). National Center for Educational Statistics. 

Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1

Kamanetz, Anya. (2015, January 22). The Past, Present And Future Of High-Stakes Testing
Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/22/377438689/the-past-present-and-future-of-high-stakes-testing

MacAskill, A. and Ashreena, T. (2014, December 11). In modernising India, suicide is on the rise among young. Retrieved from: http://in.reuters.com/article/india-suicide-idINKBN0JO2A420141211

PISA - Measuring student success around the world. (2011). EduSkills. 

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1I9tuScLUA

The secret to comparing schools based on test scores. (2013, Feb 5). Great chools. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhRHnXZGG3M

Student suicides in South Korea. (n.d.). Retrieved from 

http://www.voicesofyouth.org/fr/posts/student-suicides-in-south-korea

Incorporating Multicultural Pespectives

             “Diversity is being asked to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”
                                                                                                             - Verna Myers

My students come from diverse cultures, language groups, religions, socio-economic backgrounds and other social constructs that separate and divide people. They come with different experiences, expectations, talents, abilities, hopes and dreams. They have been asked to the party. And like all kids who are invited to a party, they come through their classroom door with great expectations, a bit nervous and wondering: will I be asked to dance?

 What can I do to ensure that the light in their eyes reflecting their hopes and dreams are not snuffed out? How can I create a learning environment in which each student will feel accepted and understood? Culture, as defined by Scharf (2014), “can refer to an individual’s race, class, gender sexual orientation, religion, immigration status and age, among other things.” Marzano recommends bringing students’ interests- which can include any of the factors listed by Scharf- into content and personalizing learning activities. Knowing the range of diverse cultures in my class will enable me to personalize learning activities and make learning relevant and meaningful for my students by connecting it to their real-world experiences.

 This diversity in my class gives me an opportunity to teach my students to understand and embrace diversity as it exists in the real world. I need to craft my lessons to reflect the diverse cultures. I can use multicultural resources in a variety of ways to expose students to, and help them to learn about their peers’ cultures. For example, reading about different cultures and discussing the different aspects of the culture will help students to learn about cultures other than theirs. We can explore and learn about the history, stories, literature, hopes and dreams of different people groups. 
Some things that I can do in my class to celebrate diversity:

·         Reading stories from different cultures and having books from different cultures available at different levels

·         Watching videos and movies of different cultures

·         Learning about dress, music, dance, and literature of countries represented in class

·         Celebrating their national holidays

·         Learning a song, dance, or a game; getting the students to teach them to their classmates

·         Making and eating food from different cultures

·         Learning about a culture by setting a day aside to celebrate that culture, and inviting parents to take part

In almost every community today, myriad cultures are represented. To prepare my students to live and work successfully in the community, I should help them to appreciate diversity by focusing on understanding each other’s cultures and on what we can learn from, as well as do for, each other.  Learning about their classmates’ cultures will help students to understand and respect each other. The quiet ELL student may be a great dancer, singer, or soccer player, and may become the class hero overnight. There’s nothing like music, dance, and games to break down cultural barriers and I can incorporate these into my lessons to help students to get to know each other.

How will I know if my students are developing cultural competence? They will respect and accept each other and be willing to work, play and spend time together. They will be sensitive to the needs of the special needs student, and will offer to work with him/her. They will encourage the shy ELL student to join in their games. They will share their supplies with those who are not as privileged as they are. Most importantly, they will learn to see things from other people’s perspectives as they are exposed to new cultural experiences. And hopefully, they will learn to ‘walk in another’s shoes.’

Scharf (2014), in Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education, talks about the importance of “genuinely seeing diversity as a strength and an opportunity, rather than as an “issue” or problem.” I, the teacher, should lead the way in seeing the diversity in my class as a strength and opportunity, and in making each student feel accepted and valued. My attitude and behavior should reflect this belief. I would need to let them know that I’m interested in them as individuals, and that their interests and dreams matter to me.

Marzano calls the teacher-student relationship the ‘keystone’ to creating an effective learning environment, and that “teacher behavior is the language of that relationship.” This is a language I will have to learn to speak each day to make every student feel valued and supported. That every day, every student in my class should hear me say: May I have this dance with you?



References:
Marzano, R.J. (2007). The Science and Practice of Teaching and Learning. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.

Scharf, Amy. (2014). Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education. Montgomery, Alabama. Teaching Tolerance.