Educator Evaluation Beacon

teacher rubric

What Moves the Needle?

by

ThermometerIt’s only mid-year, and middle school music teacher Ben (not his real name) learns that three-quarters of his students have surpassed his year-end DDM goals for them.  In just half a year they have made the progress with sight-reading he thought would take the whole year. This is the kind of improvement every educator and evaluator wants to see, and is the result of focus on curriculum and effective instruction.

The DDM process has led to improved instruction and student outcomes in certain classrooms. But DDMs aren’t the only aspect of the educator evaluation system designed to make a difference in teaching and learning. The system provides many mechanisms that  can move the proverbial needle, including:

  • Self-assessment
  • Goal-setting and tracking
  • Classroom observations and related conversations
  • Gathering artifacts
  • Measuring student growth
  • Student feedback (surveys)

Question: Which one of these components is moving the needle in your district?

 

 

More Effective Use of the Teacher Performance Rubric

by

In his article in Chalkbeat New York, Kim Marshall details eight PersonalConversationpitfalls in putting the teacher rubric at the center of classroom observations. He cites distraction from open-minded observation, creating a top-down dynamic, and replacing face-to-face observations with electronic communication.

Marshall offers these alternative approaches:

  • Use the rubric at three points in the evaluative cycle: for teacher self-assessment and for the mid-cycle and summative reviews.
  • Follow up every classroom observation with a brief face-to-face conversation.