The Arbitrariness Inherent in Teacher Observations
In a recent article released in The Journal News, a newspaper serving many suburban New York counties, another common problem is highlighted whereby districts that have adopted the same teacher observational system (in this case as mandated by the state) are scoring what are likely to be very similar teachers very differently. Whereby teachers in one of the best school districts not only in the state but in the nation apparently has no “highly effective” teachers on staff, teachers in a neighboring district apparently have a staff 99% filled with “highly effective” teachers.
The “believed to be” model developer, Charlotte Danielson, is cited as stating that “Saying 99 percent of your teachers are highly effective is laughable.” I don’t know if I completely agree with her statement, and I do have to admit I question her perspective on this one, and all of her comments throughout this article for that matter, as she is the one who is purportedly offering up her “valid” Framework for Teaching for such observational purposes. Perhaps she’s displacing blame and arguing that it’s the subjectivity of the scorers rather than the subjectivity inherent in her system that should be to blame for the stark discrepancies.
As per Danielson: “The local administrators know who they are evaluating and are often influenced by personal bias…What it also means is that they might have set the standards too low.” As per the Superintendent of the District with 99% highly effective teachers: The state’s “flawed” evaluation model forced districts to “bump up” the scores so “effective” teachers wouldn’t end up with a rating of “developing.” The The Arbitrariness Inherent in Teacher Observations |:
