Decatur Leads the Way in New Teacher Evaluation Method
Decatur Metro | December 12, 2011CSD has posted the full article, featured in yesterday’s print edition of the AJC, detailing Decatur’s relatively new teacher evaluation methods that may soon become the standard for the entire state.
City Schools of Decatur, a 3,250-student district, is among the first Georgia systems taking a different approach to rating teachers, one that recognizes some teachers are better than others and scores them accordingly. Similar changes are headed to school districts across Georgia in the coming years.
The goal is to build a better teaching workforce by getting help to those who need it, learning from those who don’t and firing those who are beyond repair.
“It’s in the middle of everything we do, rather than a necessary evil,” said Decatur Associate Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen, who oversees the evaluation process.
The word “evaluation” is misspelled in the headline.
Keep in mind this is Class Keys–a state evaluation tool. Not sure why they are portraying Decatur as some kind of great innovator. APS and many others are using the same system. Still burns me up that the people doing the evaluations are administrators–many of whom haven’t worked in a classroom for years and years (and years and years). Also, wouldn’t the fact that Decatur’s significant demographic change have more to do with rising test scores than some evaluation tool?
+1
Who would you suggest should do the evaluations?
The evaluation system is state created and it has no reliability or validity data. Who should evaluate teachers? Administrators as well as other teachers using a document similar to class keys. In addition, teachers should rate themselves, and finally we should include some formal way for parents and students to evaluate their experience. Many years ago the state also paid outside evaluators to come in an observe 1st year teachers. Folks, we need to evaluate, but the instrument should be deemed reliable, and valid. This is a very small system and the room for subjectivity is still extremely large! Using central office and admin, many who have taught the bare minimum, or who have not taught in years is not the answer. Our schools are great because we have fabulous children, parents, teachers, and a few sharp admin. . It is a group effort, and I do believe the teachers we attract here are a notch above. No one evaluation method will ever be the answer. It must be multifaceted. It is what it is, but be wary of the hype. “All that glitters is not gold.”
I have always wondered if it would be good to have family feedback involved in teacher and staff evaluations, maybe principal and school administrator levels too. I don’t mean a chance for parents to slam teachers who give their children “red lights” or poor progress evaluations. I mean some kind of structured feedback, under the control of the school system, that would be grade-level appropriate. For example, at the elementary school level, questions to families might cover elements like communication with parents, quality and quantity of homework, quality of assessment feedback, discipline, opportunities for parents to get involved with field trips and other class activities. At the middle school level, the questions would be more specific to the type of class. At the high school level, student input might be solicited like one sees at colleges. Many colleges and private schools do this so I’m sure there’s a way to do this that would get valuable information back to the teacher, school, and system but would still be respectful of the teachers. Inappropriate responses could be edited, just like on this blog!
Actually, after 30 seconds more of thought, I think this process would be informative and useful, but perhaps it shouldn’t be tied to evaluations. Most students and parents adore their teachers but still have useful feedback to share. If they thought that their feedback would negativel affect evaluations, they might be hesitant to share….
This story is curious. It says the new system”recognizes that some teachers are better than others and scores them accordingly.” Did the old system not do that? What was the old system trying to measure, then?
I wondered about that too. My guess is that older evaluation systems were more subjective and less standardized so the results were harder to use–both for constructive feedback and and for employee discipline.
Good point. “Recognizes that some teachers are better than others”, Really? How does this get recognized? By whom? I It should peek everyone’s curiosity. Next question: Exactly what remediation is being offered? By whom? No one is a “perfect” teacher. We have struggled for years with this question. Right now folks, I hate to tell you this…. Most teacher of the year selections, especially on the local level are bogus at best. Either faculty votes, or admin takes nominations and a “committee” decides. Biased. Many teachers get “help” writing their personal statements. It is extremely political, especially in small systems. Some of these folks have students bouncing off the walls, but they know how to use technology. They are also usually well connected to admin in some way.
Class keys is still subjective. Once again is an instrument valid? Is it reliable?
Whoa! Are there any experienced educators in this slamming session? I liked the article.
I’m assuming that Teacher and Too Cool are educators. I liked the article too. If we want our students to learn to use evidence in a systematic way to synthesize, formulate conclusions, and make decisions, not only to we have to grade them that way, but we should model that in how we evaluate their teachers, mentors, and staff. The “slamming” in a few posts seems to be about how this good concept is implemented.
If teachers are concerned about an approach that mostly uses administrators, perhaps 360 degree evaluations would help. That’s a more collaborative and less hierarchical model. Not only would teachers receive feedback from administrators above them, but also from peers, subordinates (paraprofessionals e.g.), and stakeholders (families? high school students?). Plus they would have a chance to give feedback on the performance of administrators and Central Office staff who also be undergoing 360 degree evaluations. There’s something about being able to give feedback on your evaluators that makes their feedback more palatable. And wouldn’t the system would benefit from comprehensive feedback? It would be harder for an underperforming employee to claim that they are being picked on if the concerns were coming from multiple levels. Likewise, it would be even easier to justify promotions and awards for individuals whose feedback was universally stellar. One could probably just cut and paste from the feedback!
There are many teachers that read this blog but choose not to voice their opinions. And you are certainly welcome to attribute the attitudes you have read here to all teachers. But that would be wrong. I’m a teacher and I really hope my evaluations continue to be done by my administrators. Especially if the alternative involves being evaluated by some of the folks who have posted here.
That’s a valid point of view too. But a couple of teachers seem to feel strongly the other way. The rest of us non-teachers probably didn’t even know what Class Keys is.
Yeah. A teacher that just threw a bunch of other teachers recognized by their systems as teacher of the year under the bus. I don’t believe I want a “peer” evaluation from that individual.
I know! Let’s grade them on the IB scale so no one will have any idea how they are doing.
….and then convert it back to the State of Georgia GPA scale, just to make sure that all scoring validation is lost!
Now THAT was funny! (You might have to be a high schooler whose 100-point-based test score was converted to a 6-9 point IB score, depending on the subject, and then back to a percentage in Campus Portal so it could be converted to a 4 point GPA score, to really enjoy the post above.)
Class Keys contains highly detailed rubrics which I, as a teacher, have used to “practice” rate other teachers. In fact, we have ALL practiced rating each other. Additionally, there are opportunities for teachers to join a small cohort and gain more experience with the rubrics. I have participated in this group and have used the evaluation tool dozens of times.
I’m actually stunned at how thorough and clear Class Keys is. (It’s more clear than the IB rubrics!) I can’t believe the Georgia DOE did something so competent! The Class Keys system is basically a rubric for assessing best teaching practices. But it’s not easy to keep track of all your observations- I literally have a spreadsheet. Teachers are expected to demonstrate (through observations, lesson plans, records, etc.) proficiency with all of the best practices. Teachers are also allowed to score “emerging” and the Instructional Coaches at the school will TOTALLY support teachers that need help. But you can’t stand still! The idea is in line with what we expect of our students- know where you are and then grow. I consider myself a highly accomplished teacher but I still ask the instructional coach for help- especially with my IB tests and grades. We are lucky to have such competent instructional coaches- that’s not the case in many school systems.
I’m a big fan of VALID accountability. In the past, CRCT scores and silly evaluations such as “comes to work on time” and “dresses professionally” were standard. As for standardized tests, CRCT scores are problematic because they don’t assess growth. I used to work for an urban district and my Latino students gained 3 years (!) of math skills in 1 year but mostly failed the math CRCT; the whole picture simply wasn’t clear from the data. I’m a big fan of MAP.
I teach over 120 of your kids. Assess the heck out of me! What other career would expect anything else? Teachers who want to be the best at their career want their work to be scrutinized. Come on in to my class- I’ll knock your socks off!
CSD is awesome, wants their teachers to use best practices and supports teachers to overcome their weaknesses and grow. Ineffective teachers waste our kids’ time and discourage the love of learning!
And BTW- the administrators take a lot of slack on this blog but every teacher knows that the principal, that ONE person, sets the tone of the whole school. As far as the central office staff is concerned, Thomas Van Soelen gets more done in an hour than I ever thought possible. I don’t think he ever sleeps. Thomas, more than any other person, is the reason CSD is so spectacular. (I’ve never worked closely on a project with Dr. Edwards.) Thomas is the equivalent of the instructional coach for the administrators (although some administrators may disagree).
-Teach
That’s reassuring to hear. We parents hear more than probably folks realize about the life of teachers because they are not only our teachers, but many are also our friends, neighbors, church family, club mates, and family members. We like to hear that they are supported, appreciated, and treated well because we know that the bottom line is the skilled and caring direct interaction between the teacher and student. We also get discouraged when ineffective teachers who cannot improve are not redirected to where they need to be. Our children are only in any particular grade once in their lives and we want that experience to be reasonably productive and rewarding.
Keep sending out the postive vibes! I’m sure that administrators deserve praise as well as flack (or is it slack? )
Thanks for the reply. Yes, it should be flack, not slack.