Teacher Evaluation
By Herman Berliner October 2, 2011 8:29 pm EDTAt all levels of education in the New York area, the key conversation at this moment in time revolves around the APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) which will beginning now affect New York’s K- 12 teachers and administrators. Be it in public schools or in schools of education, the education community is focused on what APPR means and what the impact will be. Nationwide, the equivalent of an APPR (and a more common curriculum)seems to be in various stages of development . For me, as a long time supporter of comprehensive on-going evaluation of faculty at the higher education level, including student course and teacher ratings, peer observations, ongoing support and feedback, I also support K-12 comprehensive evaluation of teaching .
The major portion of these performance reviews will look a lot like the performance reviews already been taking place continuously in K-12 education. Classroom observations are and will continue to be an important part of this matrix. But there are differences between APPR and what has existed before. An important factor in the new evaluations will be the progress demonstrated by students on standardized state or comparable local examinations. How