Assessing Teachers; What are We Really Doing?
There's an article in today's NY Times entitled, "States Try to Fix Quirks in Teacher Evaluations." I invite you to peruse the article - I'm not sure anyone would call them "quirks".
It opens with a scene probably familiar to all - a high-school LA teacher explaining what irony means. The principal was there to assess this veteran teacher's abilities. He says it was a "good lesson." BUT he had to give her a 1 (lowest score out of 1-5) because she didn't break the students into groups. He had seen her do it in the past but in her professional wisdom, she didn't feel the need to do it for this lesson. But the principal had to follow the rubric guidelines. He said:
“It’s not an accurate reflection of her as a teacher,” Mr. Ball said.
That's just one assessment of what sounds like a perfectly fine teacher. And yet, she got dinged. But it's not
It opens with a scene probably familiar to all - a high-school LA teacher explaining what irony means. The principal was there to assess this veteran teacher's abilities. He says it was a "good lesson." BUT he had to give her a 1 (lowest score out of 1-5) because she didn't break the students into groups. He had seen her do it in the past but in her professional wisdom, she didn't feel the need to do it for this lesson. But the principal had to follow the rubric guidelines. He said:
“It’s not an accurate reflection of her as a teacher,” Mr. Ball said.
That's just one assessment of what sounds like a perfectly fine teacher. And yet, she got dinged. But it's not
