What+is+the+effect+of+teacher+evaluations+on+overall+job+satisfaction?

==== This opinion piece reflects one side of this controversial issue. The editor writes that simply evaluating teachers based on their students' test scores leaves out a host of other factors. He writes that teachers should have every reason for concern that their jobs may be held up against their students' achievement. He also says how teacher tenure could be potentially affected by this. He goes on to say that, although the majority of teachers are qualified and effective, there are those who are lacking, but are protected under tenure. This kind of evaluation could point up these problems, but then the whole issue of unions comes up, and the debate begins again. ====

==== The good thing about this article is that is boils down the issue that our group is discussing to a few major bullet points. There is so much written and spoken about teacher evaluation, that the basic issues at hand can get lost. This article was written to summarize the problem and show how it can go around and around and not get resolved. The opinion of the author is most definitely that something needs to be done to ensure that American children get a quality teaching workforce, but the current trend of relying on standardized test scores is not the progress we are looking for. ====

2.Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2012, November). Beyond the Scoreboard., //Educational Leadership.//

This article examines a more hands-on and cooperative approach to teacher evaluation. The author uses a principal by the name of Serena and a first year teacher named Michelle as an example of how this would work throughout the article. The principal in this case had a method of short, weekly observations as well as a weekly debriefing with the teacher. In these debriefings, the two act as a team to identify short term goals to work on and revisit in the next weekly meeting. The author compares this to the more common approach of extensive evaluation rubrics that can include up to 70 areas for examination. These types of evaluation typically happen once or twice a year, and often at the end of the school year. With so many areas to look at and potentially improve, one can see how a teacher can be overwhelmed by these types of evaluation. With shorter, more frequent evaluations with one or two goals, a teacher can get a handle on their own improvement and see real results. The focus is on a coaching model, where principal is coaching teacher, versus a scoreboard model, where principal simply hands teacher a final outcome each year.

It was interesting and refreshing to see how an ideal situation would look where administrators coach their teaching staff in such a supportive manner. Whereas a yearly evaluation could loom over a teacher and cause stress, a weekly observation and debriefing would probably become a comfortable and commonplace event that would eventually take away performance anxiety. When such anxiety is taken away, job satisfaction goes up and a truer picture of the teacher can be seen. What also struck me was the fact that in each debriefing, the principal only pointed out one or two small goals to work on, making improvement manageable and not at all overwhelming.

3. Cavanagh, S. (2011, March 30). Pushed to Improve-Race to Top, or Not., //Education Week//.

This article looks at the school districts in Ohio, one of the winners of Race to the Top federal money. The author looks at one district that is participating in Race to the Top, and therefore receiving funding, and another district that elected not to participate. The district that opted out of Race to the Top did so because the teachers' union did not support the measure, which is one of the state's requirements for districts to participate. Many of the reasons the teachers' unions did not support Race to the Top had to do with the unknowns surrounding teacher evaluations. Part of the writing of the grant included agreements for judging teachers and principals on gains in student achievement. The author mentions an interview with the Superintendent of the district in which he recalls defending one of his schools to a district official who noted that it had a weaker academic record than the others. The superintendent explains that while it is tempting to just look at the raw data, to see a real picture of a school and it's teachers, you have to look beyond test scores. This was one of the reasons he stood behind the teachers' union decision to forgo the federal funding.

One of the reasons I chose this topic to research was my interest in how the teachers' unions would fit in, if at all, with the Race to the Top grants and other such initiatives. When you see how high stakes testing is coming down the pike, it raises questions about teacher job security and unions in general. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds in the future.

4. Cavanagh, S. (2011, September 12). Race to Top Winners Feel Heat on Evaluations., //Education Week.//

This article examines the aftermath of winning the Race to the Top federal grants. The author takes us through some of the states that won the funding, and looks at how they are working to implement the teacher evaluation piece. In Rhode Island, for example, the department of Education already has a teacher evaluation system in place, but is looking to tie teacher certification to the evaluations. In this way, the "entire system is simplified for ensuring a qualified teaching workforce," says Elliot Krieger, and spokesman for the Rhode Island department of education. One of the most questioned issues is how to evaluate teachers of subjects not tested in the traditional standardized tests, such as the arts and physical education. Florida, the winner of a $700 million grant is implementing a district by district bidding process to come up with an assessment plan for such subjects. The department of Education hopes to serve as an example for other states to follow suit.

It was interesting to see how different states were following up on the somewhat daunting tasks at hand after winning Race to the Top funding. I learned that in the application process, states were given more points if their grant proposals had support from teachers' unions. This ensures a safeguard against union resistance to the changes to come, specifically in teacher evaluation. However, in New York, for example, where the unions agreed on a certain percentage of teacher evaluation being based on student test scores during the application process, and after the grant money was awarded the percentage was shifted, you can see that nothing is set in stone, and it is a process in every sense of the word.

5. Marzano, R. (2012, November). The Two Purposes of Teacher Evaluation., //Educational Leadership//

The author in this article opens by stating that teacher evaluation systems have not done the necessary job, that is accurately measuring teacher quality, and most importantly, developing and improving teachers. He discusses that of the two reasons for evaluating teachers, those being measurement and teacher development, more emphasis should be put on development and improvement. He explains that with such a system, evaluations can be stripped down to a few areas for observation, such as in the RATE system, an assessment method that has only ten categories for teacher improvement. The author then goes on to talk about how in a successful assessment system, there must be acknowledgement of and reward for growth, thus increasing job satisfaction and promoting teacher involvement.

The emphasis on teacher development rather than measurement is a more palatable purpose of teacher assessment in my opinion. There could be resistance to simply being measured on job performance and possibly not feeling job security. However, if you feel you are given the opportunity to improve and feel supported in that process, one can begin to feel part of the solution and be more invested in the bigger picture.