Teacher Evaluation

In this post I will attempt to:

• Make notes on the kind of feedback you would like from your mentors during your full-time clinicals.
• Analyze at least two approaches to teacher evaluation in schools or school districts
• Proposes elements on which you think you should be judged as a teacher

Feedback from Mentors

Before I receive feedback from my Mentors, I would like to have a pre-observational meeting. This way I can help my mentor better understand the environment he or she will be walking into. I will also like to discuss any observational criteria the Mentor will be using, this will not only help calm my nerves but help me understand what is to be expected and give me the chance to ask any questions concerning the criteria.After observing me, I would appreciate my Mentor to open dialogue about areas I did well in as well as areas that I most need improvement based on the Criteria that we had discussed earlier. I feel that any feedback that has the intention to help mold me into a better teacher will be good feedback if explained well.

Analyzes different teacher evaluation approaches

After looking at multiple teaching evaluation approaches, I have chosen to compare the NEA approach, the Danielson Group Approach, and the Cel-5 D Approach which is used the school I teach at. These three approaches do have one major thing in common. That they all have the continual development of teacher at heart. The NEA states “The core purpose of teacher assessment and evaluation should be to improve the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and classroom practices of professional educators.”, the Danielson Group states “Charlotte Danielson’s concepts in the educational community, connect them to other areas of knowledge, and enhance the professional practices of educators to positively impact student learning.” and the Cel-5 D “The tool can be used as the “lens” for classroom observations, as a guide for teachers, and as a reference during lesson planning and staff meetings about instructional practices.” All of these three approaches have the assessment of the teacher be a way for the teacher to grow and develop.

Each of these frameworks breaks down into focus areas of assessment.

The NEA breaks the assessment down into 10 Teacher Standards

Standard #1: Learner Development. Standard #2: Learning Differences. Standard #3: Learning Environments. Standard #4: Content Knowledge. Standard #5: Application of Content. Standard #6: Assessment. Standard #7: Planning for Instruction. Standard #8: Instructional Strategies. Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice. Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration.

The Danielson Group is divided into 4 main domains with multiple sub-domains.

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation Demonstrating knowledge of Content                and Pedagogy Demonstrating Knowledge of Students Setting Instructional Outcomes Demonstrating knowledge of Resources Designing Coherent Instruction	Domain 2: Classroom Environment             Creating an Environment of Respect              and Rapport Establishing a Culture for Learning Managing Classroom Procedures Managing Student Behaviour Organising Physical Space
Domain 3: Instruction Communicating with students Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques Engaging Students in Learning Using Assessment in Instruction Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness	Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities Reflecting on Teaching Maintaining Accurate Records Communicating with Families Participating in Professional Community Growing and Developing Professionally Showing Professionalism

Cel 5-D is divided up into 5  Main Sections with each division is then broken down into Sub-dimensions, followed by Vision statements and then Guiding Questions.

Purpose	Student Engagement	Curriculum & Pedagogy	Assessment for Student Learning	Classroom Environment & Culture
Standards Learning Targets & Teaching Points	Intellectual Work Engagement Strategies Talk	Curriculum Teaching Approaches and/or Strategies Scaffolds for Learning	Assessment Adjustments	Use of  Physical Environment Classroom routines and rituals Classroom Culture

Even though these approaches may differ in how they are presented there are many similarities. They all assess the teacher reason for teaching, the planning and the presenting of the content, different ways teachers engage with the students, and the mastery of the content. In the Danielson group they divide between 4 main areas where Cel-5 D has 5 sections. Cel-5 D decides to take out Assessment where Danielson keeps it in with Instruction. The NEA approach doesn’t divide the standards into categories. I feel that the division of dimensions is very helpful. I also find that the Cel-5 D approach breaking down even further into vision statements and essential questions are really helpful for a teacher to grasp what is needed to be a competent teacher and how to improve.

Proposes elements on which you think you should be judged as a teacher

I believe that though culture should be based on the culture of the school and what the school’s goals are, it should also be judged in the manner as one would judge a fine arts skill. It may be because I teach art, but I view teaching as a fine art, it has many components that require time and effort to display mastery. Some teachers might develop mastery earlier than others, but one thing stays the same, the teacher is open to self-critique, open to new ideas and new approaches, open to being “judged” but only in a way where it is constructive to the teacher's improvement. And just like refining a fine craft one cannot be too harsh to judge but to modify in an appropriate amount that the teacher does not feel overwhelming. Every teacher is different, and so, the elements judged should be different. One day I might need extra help refining my skills in Assessments, and another day I might need help refining my skills in Classroom Culture. Just like I teach my kids to give constructive critique to each other, “It’s not always what you say, but how you say it.”

References:

A. (2014, October 01). Teacher Development and Evaluation. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation

5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning™. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from 

https://www.k-12leadership.org/content/service/5-dimensions-of-teaching-and-learning

Danielson Group » The Framework. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/

New Teacher Survival Guide: The Formal Observation. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/preparing-for-formal-observations

M6U4A3 Teacher Evaluation-A Resource Guide.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYfzjQoASL_eGdtNFdsbXRIRDQ/view 

For the Pre-ASsessment for Differentiation Unit, we were given the activity to create an assessment that helps us identify which students might already know the content and which students might not. My class is about to start a watercolor unit, the students have learned about watercolor in the past, but it has been some time.  To identify the different levels the students are at I have created a Pre-Assessment linked here: Socrative Watercolor Pre-Assessment. The goal of the assessment is for assessing how much prior knowledge the student has on the different watercolor techniques that will be used in the unit. The student will be asked to identify different techniques through short answer questions. I thought that short answers might be best for this assessment so that students would not guess through the process of elimination.  There are a couple of multiple choice questions in there, but the majority is on short answer question. Because the students have not yet taken the assessment in my class yet, Teach Now has given me some ideas on how the results might be. We will assume that 5 of the students answered most, including the pre-assessment correctly. That 12 of the students with some knowledge in their score but need to develop higher order thinking. And that 5 students have limited knowledge of the topic.

LucidChart- Pre-Assessment, Watercolor
(here is a link to the Flowchart for better viewing) 

Now that I know who needs a little more help I will divide the group into 3 categories Zone A, B, C. Each of these zones will have differentiated instruction that hopefully will meet the student where they need it most. Zone A will be the group of students who have a limited understanding of the different techniques of watercolor. This group will be meeting at a specified table where I can give a step by step tutorial that uses the gradual release method. I am hoping that this will give the students the foundations they need to learn the material while giving them a sense of owning their own learning. Zone B  have some understanding of the different techniques used in watercolor, but they would benefit with a refresher course. They don't need as much supervision at their table. They will meet at a specific table set up with the "CHALLENGE" to show what they remember while giving the students a chance to get their feet wet. The challenge will be giving students a chance to use all the basic skills to create a little booklet with quotes or inspirational thoughts. Zone C will be where the students have demonstrated their knowledge of the basic techniques and might like the chance to go a little deeper. Because I can't be in two places at once, I will have a computer set up with a menu of new and wacky techniques for students to choose from. Each one of the menu options will be a video of me giving a step by step guide on how to create new techniques.These are techniques that are not technically covered in the curriculum but are a chance for students to do some self-directed learning. Students will be given freedom to select how they would like to showcase what new techniques they have learned by the end of the unit. My hope is with this group, to have them sit with students from other levels later when they work on their final project. I would then ask the students to do peer-instruction to help foster an atmosphere of learning. 

I am interested in trying it out this week in class to see how much my students remember from previous years before teaching the unit. 

High Stakes Assessment

Current School High Stakes Assessment 

At the school I currently teach at in Asia, we follow the American Education System for the most part. We currently have a variety of High Stakes Assessments at our school, which include, MAP testing, ACT, SAT, and AP exams and projects. 

MAP tests are a used as a growth measuring tool. Every semester all the students at our school take time out of the regular academic curriculum to take the test. The MAP test consists of Math, Reading, Language usage, and Science. Teachers at our school do not teach to the test, but they do collect the data from the MAP tests to identify if the student will be needing special Tier support. If there is a large number of students who do not show growth, then the curriculum will go under review. The goal of the MAP test at my school is to collect ongoing data from the first time they attend school to when they leave the school to have data to help them have data to help make Data-based Decisions. 

The students who attend our school are most likely to go on to American universities or universities that accept the ACT as a college entrance exam. The SAT is also key exam students at our school take to help gain entry into universities. These are exams that are taken outside of school, they have high costs, high stress, and high stakes. Most students at the school I teach with not only want to pass the SAT and the ACT, they want to pass with the highest scores possible. This creates lots of stress, students find tutors, join study groups, and spend countless hours studying for these exams. 

Another High Stakes Assessment our school uses is the AP stream. Students are encouraged to take AP courses in the subjects that they are hoping to take at University. The students at our school spend countless hours revising, getting tutored, or working on the AP portfolio's that they need to submit by the designated date. In order for students receive college-level credit, to later save time and money, and to give the students an edge over other university applicants. Students feel a high level of stress when taking these courses and completing these assessments because they feel their whole future is hanging on the results of their AP courses. 

The final form of High-Stakes assessment our school currently uses is the Summative Assessments during the school year. Because of the term weight is given to summative assessments, they have created a high-stakes environment. If students fail the summative assessment, they can potentially fail the whole class, despite having done well on the formative assessments in class.  The goal is to have the teachers and educational facilitators to use formative assessment to give students a chance to fail and experiment without the fear of failure. That the teachers can use the formative assessments to assess how to better instruct the student to help them understand the content needed to pass the course. They also hope that creating a high-stakes environment that students will take the assessments more seriously to help them focus their attention on what they need in order to pass the course. Though the intent is to help the student succeed, it does create stress among the students. Though because of our re-take policy, it doesn't create "bad" stress, instead of a healthy dose of stress to help the students buckle down and learn. 

High-Stakes Assessment in Finland 
As I am about to embark on the next chapter of my life, I am very interested in the Finland Educational system. I do hope to be able to teach in the school system eventually and I would like to compare the current school I teach at with the school system I hope to teach at in the future. 

According to my research, I found that the only real "High-Stakes" assessment is the Matriculation Examination that upper secondary students take that is completely based on the syllabus of the Finnish school system. The purpose of the exam is to assess if the student has assimilated the knowledge and skills required by the school system and if the student has reached an adequate level of maturity in line with goals of general upper secondary education. If passed the student may proceed on to university. According to the statistics, about 35,000 passes the exam annually. 

To ensure that students have a fair chance of passing the exam, the Matriculation Examination Board issues guidelines on the contents, arrangements, and assessments of the test. This test can also be taken in a range of languages depending on the mother tongue of the student, Swedish, Finnish or Sami. 

According to the Finnish educational site, if a student is not satisfied with the results of the exam feeling that the grade is unjust, they can request the exam to be reassessed. 

Compare-Contrast and Data
There are a few differences between my current school and schools in Finland. My school has a more regular high-stakes assessment, MAP, ACT, AP, SAT, and regular high-stakes in curriculum assessment. Whereas the only external high-stakes assessment in Finland is the Matriculation Examination. Currently, the US (which our school system is based on) is 481 in Mathematics and 498 in reading. In Finland, the mean score is 519 in Maths, and 524 in reading. If I compare these two sets of scores, it makes me wonder if so many High-stakes assessments actually benefit the student in the long run. Even though, high-stakes assessment can help teachers create a learning plan for students, help improve the test-taking abilities, and that they are standardized and are not discriminatory. There are enough cons to make me question if the students should be exposed to so many high-stakes assessments, these include, causing children to have to repeat grade levels or denying graduation if they don't succeed, that these form of assessments don't help students who struggle with learning in this form. I know from my own personal life, I suffer from test anxiety, which caused me to have to retake the SAT multiple times because my mind would go blank the moment I opened the test, which leads me to the next con, it causes high stress in students. I have read countless articles about students suffering from so much stress that they commit suicide because they were not able to pass the exam. I remember once a boy in my building tried committing suicide by threatening to jump off of our apartment complex, he had struggled with passing his final exam. He would not have been able to move on to the next grade level because of his test score he was wanting to put an end to all the stress since he felt his life was over. 
I understand that there are statistics out there that show how good High-stakes testing can be, but unless it is done in a way where the student has adequate support, where their "life" doesn't hang on a test, where there are ways where students are set up to succeed. Only then should High-Stakes assessments be used. They should never cause a student to feel as if the world is over and there is no hope. 

References:
 OECD.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.oecd.org
Are Advanced Placement (AP) Courses Important? (2014, August 26). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000006/
Are Advanced Placement (AP) Courses Important? (2014, August 26). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000006/
About the SAT Test. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-information
About the SAT Test. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-information
(n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.ylioppilastutkinto.fi/en/matriculation-examination