During the past two years, ISM has engaged in an intensive effort to forecast the needs of schools in the rapidly evolving 21st Century environment. One of the outcomes of this effort was the recent publication of a new template for faculty evaluation, which we are pleased to publish in excerpted form this month.
What Works/What Doesn’t
The old model of once-a-year-observation-as-evaluation clearly doesn’t meet the feedback and coaching goals of faculty and administrators. Instead, we recommend an ongoing process of regular feedback and coaching conversations, culminating on paper in an annual written evaluation. The written evaluation serves as a summary of the year’s coaching conversations, while also providing legal protection to the school should a discrimination claim ever evolve from the teacher’s employment at the school.
What Gets Evaluated
Just as most schools aim to educate “the whole child,” we similarly suggest that schools evaluate “the whole teacher.” That is, since the teacher’s role extends outside of the classroom into advisory sessions, moderating clubs, coaching athletic teams, etc., all aspects of the job should enter into a comprehensive evaluation. This can be achieved by identifying:
- Basic Teacher Expectations (the day-to-day operational items that are required for the school to operate, such as grading papers, punctual attendance, appropriate dress, etc.)
- Characteristics of Professional Excellence (the higher-order behaviors—such as engaging students, collaborating with colleagues, enhancing professional knowledge, etc.—that need to be present in the faculty in order to deliver the mission with excellence).
It’s All About Comments and Examples
Once Basic Teacher Expectations and Characteristics of Professional Excellence are established and communicated to all teachers, these become the basis of the evaluation. Administrators review their notes from the year’s coaching conversations, and then assess the teacher’s performance against the established characteristics. It all comes down to providing examples that the teacher can use for future growth and development.
For example, if “applying real-life examples to classroom situations” is a characteristic of excellence in the school, the evaluator/administrator will use examples of when and how the teacher demonstrated this (or not) throughout the year. This might look something like:
Real-Life Applications: Annette is very skilled in bringing the past to life in her classes. One example occurred in her Government course this fall, where she had the students “perform” snippets of speeches from famous politicians from the past. She collaborated with the media teacher to turn the videotaped performances into political “commercials,” which the students then distributed via YouTube and Twitter.
In this way, the administrator is providing positive reinforcement of actions that are desirable in the future, as well as providing substance to her positive evaluation of the teacher regarding this characteristic.
Looking Forward
The written evaluation can be used effectively to launch the teacher’s professional growth plan for the following year. For example, if the teacher struggled with a particular teaching technique or topical area, this might be a “required” goal in her growth plan for the next year. Or, if the teacher expressed a consistent interest in incorporating social media into her teaching repertoire, this might be an enhancement goal that becomes part of next year’s plan. In this way, the evaluation serves to re-set goals and expectations, and becomes part of an cycle of feedback and conversation that supports the teacher’s growth, renewal, and professional reinvigoration on an ongoing basis.
Additional ISM resources of interest
ISM Monthly Update for Business Managers Vol. 10 No. 5 Why Business Managers Need to Care About Teacher Evaluation
Private School News Vol. 11 No. 1 Evaluation Reforms Are Changing Schools Nationwide—Public and Private Alike
ISM Monthly Update for Human Resouces Vol. 10 No. 7 Can Evaluation Really Drive Faculty (and Student) Performance?
Additional ISM resources for Consortium Gold Members
I&P Vol. 37 No. 2 A 21st Century Teacher Evaluation Model
I&P Vol. 37 No. 2 Comparing and Contrasting Evaluation Approaches
I&P Vol. 37 No. 2 Aegis Academy Faculty Evaluation Sample
