Teacher Evaluations

I have been teaching in Korea for 4 years and I have never really been evaluated. I have heard of teacher evaluations, but never really had the experience or reason to check it out before. The closest I got, was at my previous school. This procedure went as follows:

1. The principal & head teacher observed one lesson (The date and time previously scheduled with you).
2. The teacher fills out a self evaluation form.
3. Post-observation meeting: The principal, head teacher and the teacher discuss your self evaluation form and most importantly talk about the pros and cons of the lesson and changes you can make for better teaching.

Although I enjoyed reflecting on my own teaching, the lesson was not as natural as it would have been. The students (3 years old) were also very shy and their focus were drawn away from the lesson and towards the two new teachers sitting at the back of the class. 

So, how do we effectively evaluate teachers?

According to Danielson and McGreal (2000), during the process of developing a good teacher evaluation system two fundamental questions should be answered: 

(a) What do we believe good teaching looks like?, and 

(b) What are the processes and procedures that will best fit what the school district wants the educational system to accomplish?

There are many systems being used to evaluate teachers. I will look at two of them: the IQMS (Integrated Quality Management System) and the Danielson's framework. 

IQMS (Integrated Quality Management System)

I chose to look at this one, because it is used in South Africa (where I am from). It consists of 3 programmes:

1. Developmental Appraisal (DA): to appraise individual educators in a transparent manner with a view to determining areas of strength and weakness, and to draw up programmes for individual development. 
2. Performance Measurement (PM): to evaluate individual teachers for salary progression, grade progression, affirmation of appointments and rewards and incentives. 
3. Whole School Evaluation (WSE): is to evaluate individual teachers for salary progression, grade progression, affirmation of appointments and rewards and incentives. 

The purpose of this system (according the the Department of Basic Education in South Africa) is

• to determine competence;
• to assess strengths and areas for development;
• to identify specific needs of educators, colleges and the FET Directorate for support and development;
• to provide support for continued growth;
• to promote accountability;
• to monitor an institution’s overall effectiveness; and
• to evaluate an educator’s performance.

There are certain steps in order to implement this system (see the picture above). The role of the teacher in this system is as follows:

• Must undertake self-evaluation of his/her performance.
• Identifies his/her personal support group – Development Support Group (DSG).
• Develops a Personal Growth Plan (PGP) and finalizes it together with the DSG.
• Must co-operate with the DSG.
• Attends INSET and other programmes in terms of areas identified for development.
• Engages in feedback and discussion. 

At first glance it looks like a good system that supports the teachers in professional development and teacher effectiveness; however there is still a big problem in South Africa's education system in teacher effectiveness. A study done by the Center for Development and Enterprise (2000) about teacher evaluation in South Africa (regarding public schools) states that the biggest problems with this system is that the concept of PGP's are great, but that the teachers do not have the time to "complete them with adequate thought and reflection" and they do not have the "skills needed to express their development needs". Another finding was that the evaluators for classroom observations was not "trained to identify evidence in support of their rating decisions, with the emphasis on corrective action, development and improvement" and it became a negative, judgmental process. Thus the lack of capacity in public schools had reduced the IQMS to largely a compliance exercise with limited or no professional development.

Danielson's Framework

When I first read this evaluation system framework, I liked the outline and it matched my idea of how a teacher should be evaluated and on what grounds. It has 4 domains:

1. Planning and Preparation
2. Classroom Environment
3. Instruction
4. Professional responsibilities

Although schools can choose how it is implemented, its main purpose and value is being "the foundation for professional conversations among practitioners as they seek to enhance their skill in the complex task of teaching". On their website they point out a very important factor for schools who want to use this model: training. This is the key component of every evaluation system: knowing how to implement it the best way possible: for teaching effectiveness and advancement.

I would have liked this framework when I was evaluated by my previous school with a pre-observation meeting (explaining the criteria and talking about my lesson plan for the observation). I believe if this is communicated beforehand, the post-observation meeting would have been more specific and more areas of my teaching (that needed some more attention) would have been observed. 

How should I be judged on as a teacher?

As I am getting ready for my clinical practice in South Africa (at my alma mater), I have been thinking what I would want my mentor to judge me on. Firstly, I would want to know what my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher are, so that I can build on my strengths (regarding my teacher personality) and learn to control and improve my weaknesses. I also would like my mentor to be very honest and give me tools and insight to all componenets of teaching. 

Researching the 2 evaluating systems above gave me some guidance as to what the criteria would be; and the Danielson's framework comes very close! It reflects a lot of the aspects of Module 4 which connects to what I believe makes a great teacher: classroom culture, high expectations, norms and procedures, managing challenging behaviour and behaviour in general etc. I would appreciate such specific feedback on all the componenets that makes up teaching. Self reflection on my teaching is also something I have been doing for the past 1.5 years of being a preschool teacher. I learned a lot from my students (asking them what type of lessons they like...yes even 3-year olds know what they like and dislike!)  and I will definitely continue doing that; however as the critique on the IQMS states, I need more guidance and support from others and I am looking forward to see what it takes to be a great teacher!

References

• Danielson, C. & McGreal, T.L. (2000). Teacher evaluation: To enhance professional practice. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Department Basic Education. (n.d.). Your Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) Q&A. Retrieved from http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=JJr4X%2BgtLX0%3D&tabid=447
• The Danielson Group. (n.d.). The Framework. Retrieved from https://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/

Pre-assessments

When introducing a new topic, idea or skill, I often ask myself: 

• How am I going to get my students there? 
• How am I going to prepare and guide my students to master this topic, idea or skill?

In order to do this, usually the first step I take in my class is testing my students' prior knowledge through pre-assessment strategies. In Module 5 in this programme, I developed a Poetry Reading unit for a Grade 2 ELA standard (RL.2.4). Students should be able to describe and analyse poetry through identifying elements like rhyme, rhythm, alliteration etc. 

How will I introduce a poetry unit to my class?

I enjoy surveys, because it is a good way to assess a student's interest in a topic. For this unit, I will first do an opinion survey on poetry (created through the Kahoot app). This will be done in class (on iPads or computers). This app is very fun and interactive and shows the amount of kids answering a certain question. The students will be able to see how many students had the same answers and will create a safe and confident atmosphere to let students know that some students in class might feel the same way and by sticking together, we can get through this unit easily. Through this I can also calculate a general opinion in the class. Poetry can be quite challenging or stereotyped as boring among kids, so this survey will let me know if most students like poetry or think it is difficult. 

After the survey and showing the results, we will have a discussion on the general opinion towards poetry and students can discuss the reasons for this opinion. I created this survey also to let students think about the similarities between poetry and the songs they hear on the radio or on TV. This will show them that there are many forms of poetry and that although they might not read poetry, they listen to it every day. This will create a possible interest in this unit to show that it will be fun and interacting.

Pre-assessment quiz

I decided to include a quiz to assess the following prior knowledge of the students:

• Rhyme, alliteration, repetition and rhythm.
• Explain the meaning of a poem.
• Use context clues to know the meaning of vocabulary words.
• Describe and explain the tone of a poem.
• Give and explain their personal response of a poem.
• Showing higher thinking to understand a poem.

This will be done after the survey. They will all watch a video display of the poem "The Crocodile's Toothache" by Shel Silverstein. Then while having a copy of the poem in front of them, they will answer the quiz questions. 

Differentiation strategies

Based on the results of the quiz and survey, I will create differentiation strategies to help all students reach the objectives for the unit. This is very important, because all students have different learning styles, ways of thinking and levels of understanding. In order to guide every single student, I would have to adapt my lessons and assessments accordingly.

Here is a link to my mind map explaining innovative differentiation strategies for 3 groups of students with different levels.

Monitoring progress

It is important to check for understanding throughout lessons and the unit as a whole. The pre-assessment was the starting point of that, but throughout the unit, I should assess student progress. I enjoy using exit tickets and self reflection. They are great ways to monitor understanding. The students will also continually work on a poetry portfolio which will help me see their progress towards their final project of the unit.