Teacher Effectiveness

This should come as a surprise to no one --

In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, economists Eric Taylor and John Tyler used data from Cincinnati, Ohio to look at what happens when teachers are actually evaluated. Taylor and Tyler tracked teachers during the year they were evaluated and the following years. They found that not only did performance (as measured by math achievement of students) increase during the evaluation year, but the gains were sustained in subsequent years. That's a big deal - it means teachers were not just responding to being evaluated but using the feedback to improve their work. 

Imagine that!   Yet I went a good four or five years where I was observed maybe - and that's a huge maybe - twice a year.  If that.

Let's just say under new leadership, I've been evaluated more - even if it's just a quick drop in from the boss - in two years than I have been in the past decade.

Yet, we want to dump billions in other areas to improve education when all you need is a system that allows for administration to effectively evaluate their teachers.  Better yet, let other teachers evaluate teachers and allow time for discussion and development.  That is a million times better than wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars on what currently passes for 'professional development.'

What is more interesting about this study is what they found - specifically two things -

1.  The teachers who improved the most all had at least five years under their belts.  So much for the idea that rookie teachers are the savior of our profession.

2.  Teacher evaluations were used to evaluate teachers and not just high stakes test scores (a good reason why - most teachers don't teach subjects that culminate in high stakes tests - and please God don't let them try to have more high stakes fill in the bubble tests.  Could you imagine judging a choir or orchestra or artists that way?)


In addition to effective evaluations, let me posit two other points for improving teaching.

First, don't hire teachers to simply coach.  Hire the best teacher.  Period.  If they can coach, wonderful.  If not, find a member of the public to coach.  Exclamation point.  The bottom line is you will impact thousands of more kids through teaching than you ever will via coaching.  Plus, are you more effective in your classroom in front of 30 kids or being on a bus to a game while those same 30 kids watch a movie with a sub?

Second - and out district has already done this - put an end to bogus 'educational leadership degree' programs.  Now, this is not to say that all are bogus, but after listening to one staff member who I greatly respect talk about his experience earning his master's ("I had to buy two books total . . . "), it was a joke.  Yet, some of the people in the most powerful positions in our district earned those bogus degrees.  What sense does that make?

Is our education system as broken as the media proposes?  No.  But it sure could be fixed a lot quicker than "Waiting for Superman" or "Race to the Top" would have us believe.