Educative Evaluation

Assuming that no one is perfect and therefore everyone has room for improvement, evaluation of
oneself and of one’s teaching content is a vital role in the improving of oneself as a professional
(Fink: 1999). “Teachers are professionals, and to maintain professionalism we must strive to be the
best we can. This means constantly looking to improve ourselves” (personal communication April
1, 2009 E, Heyman experienced teacher). The question then arises as to, ‘how do teachers monitor
their teaching effectiveness as well as their teaching programs?’ Heyman, Pearson & Scott (2009)
say the answer lies within multiple strategies. They suggest five core methods; self evaluation, peer
review, student reviews, student performance, and portfolios (personal communication April 1,
experienced practising teachers) (Ory & Ryan: 2001) (Doyle: n.d.).

Self Evaluation
Self evaluation is what people do semi-automatically and semi-consciously whenever they teach.
When guiding a lesson one portion of their mental attention is concerned with "How is it going?"
"Are they with me?" "Am I losing them?" "Are they interested or bored?” (Fink: 1999). Within the
method of self evaluation the processes of; keeping a log book, producing a portfolio of created unit
programs, and comparing oneself to the quality teaching framework and professional teaching
standards, come into it.

The maintaining of a log book and the production of a unit program portfolio work hand in hand,
and are a good way in enabling a collection of quick initial ideas to be jotted down and recalled
upon for later use (Brady & Kennedy: 2003). While a unit program portfolio looks solely at the
effectiveness of the teacher’s programs, the maintaining of a log book addresses both the
effectiveness of the program as well as the teaching style, of individual lessons day by day.
However, the very strength of this source is also its weakness, because this information is created
by us for us, it is also subject to our own biases and misinterpretations. This means that, at times,
teachers are going to misread the responses of students in relation to their teaching (Fink: 1999).

The New South Wales Department of Education and Training (2009) advocates the use of ‘Quality
Teaching framework’ and ‘Professional Teaching Standards’ in relation to teacher evaluation. The
use of these two documents allows teachers to self evaluate themselves to professional standards
that have been developed by educational authorities in relation to both programming and teaching.
However the effective use of these documents in relation to self evaluation is very time consuming
as the documents themselves are quiet lengthy and require personal reflection time for thorough
analysis.

Peer Review
Peer review is the process of teaching colleagues reviewing the performance of their fellow teachers
(Barrett: 1986). The various methods conducted to create peer reviews include; team teaching, staff
review meetings, supervisors observing lessons and teacher assessment review schedules (TARS).

Team teaching is when two teachers are paired together, and work side by side for a period of time,
i.e. two weeks. While paired they worked together on assessments, unit plans, and evaluate each
other’s performance in the classroom. The use of team teaching, similar to student collaboration,
allows teachers to learn from one another and to efficiently be evaluated, as it is internal, informal
and formative. However it may lead to possible peer conflict. Staff review meetings on the other
hand, usually supplements more formal evaluation methods and is used with other data to identify
weak areas of instruction and classroom management skills (Barrett: 1986). Due to everyone being
evaluated, this lends itself well as a method that avoids peer conflict.
Supervisors and the use of ‘TARS’ are other formal methods of evaluation that can take place
within the classroom. Supervisors are usually senior members of the staff that are assigned to new
teachers to help them develop professionally. ‘TARS’ is program run within schools where the
principal or nominee assesses the teacher’s performance and development. The strength of being an
outsider is also its weakness. Outside observers can usually only visit one or two class sessions and
therefore does not know see everything. Apart from this the only other disadvantage is the program
is summative, therefore not providing information continuously throughout the year allowing for
teacher growth.

Student Review
Student review is the process of students helping their teacher to improve, through providing
feedback on the teacher as well as the content being taught. If teachers want to know whether
students find their explanations of a topic clear, or whether students find their teaching exciting or
dull, who else could possibly answer these kinds of questions better than the students themselves?
Of the five sources of information described here, student reviews are the best source for
understanding the immediate effects of individual teaching styles. This information can be obtained
in two distinct ways: questionnaires and interviews after each assignment and after a unit program,
each with its own relative values (Fink: 1999).

The questionnaire is one of the best methods of obtaining student reactions to our teaching, as it
helps to determine what the student is thinking and feeling (Brady & Kennedy: 2003).

Fink (1999) states;

“The special value of questionnaires, compared to interviews, is that they obtain responses
from the whole class and they allow for an anonymous (and therefore probably more
candid) response. The limitation of questionnaires is that they can only ask a question once,
i.e., they cannot probe for further clarification, and they can only ask questions that the
[teacher] anticipates as possibly important.”

“The other well-established way of finding out about student reactions is to talk to them...
The teacher... can talk with students for 15-30 minutes about the [unit/assessment as well as
the teacher themself]... The special value of interviews is that students often identify
unanticipated strengths and weaknesses, and the teacher can probe and follow-up on topics
that need clarification” (Fink 1999).

The limitation ofcourse is that this whole process takes a lengthy period of time.

“Returning to the general issue of information from students, regardless of how such
information is collected, one needs to remember that this is information from students.
Although they know better than anyone what their own reactions are, they can also be biased
and limited in their own perspectives. They occasionally have negative feelings, often
unconsciously, about women, people who are ethnically different from themselves, and
international teachers. Perhaps more significantly, students usually do not have a full
understanding of how a unit might be taught, either in terms of pedagogy or content.” (Fink:
1999).

Hence therefore the use of ‘Student Reviews’ is only appropriate for upper primary school children
and the respective higher educational levels.
Student Performance
According to Heyman et al (2009) student performance not only means student achievement within
assessments, but also the student’s attendance and engagement in lesson activities, as these
observable descriptors are further signs of effective teaching and learning content (Drake: 1984).

Student achievement within assessments is a major component in determine teacher evaluation, but
it’s not the only way (Duke & Stiggins: 1988). While the whole reason for teaching may be to help
someone else learn. We can’t assume that a test can accurately on its own determine how effective a
teacher’s methods and programs are. There are various factors that influence student performance
that teachers cannot control, for example; socio-economic background, disabilities, and luck (or
lack of i.e. silly mistakes). The benefit of students’ results is that they are physical allowing teachers
to see whether or not the student has achieved the outcome being assessed. They are also
standardised in some cases (NAPLAN) and allow for greater accuracy when assessing students,
therefore resulting in greater accuracy to determine, the ability of the teacher to teach the content
needed to be taught.

Student attendance and engagement are also important components in determining teacher
effectiveness. There have been various studies conducted linking student learning with attendance
and engagement in class activities. Ofcourse a child who turns up to class, and is engaged with the
lesson will learn more than a child who doesn’t (Brady & Scully: 2005). Therefore one way for
teachers to quickly evaluate their style of teaching as well as their programs, is to look at the
attendance and engagement within their classroom. As usually a child will only be disengaged if
they don’t understand or if they are boring (the work is too easy).

Portfolios
Portfolios according to the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET)
are; a deliberate, strategic and specific collection of work, or evidence of work (2007). Within the
classroom Heyman et al (2009) advocates the use of portfolios for teacher evaluation in two ways;
the first is to maintain student sample work for the teacher to reflect on, and the second is to
maintain unit programs with reflection appendices attached for later unit programming.

Student sample work portfolios are a great reflection tool for teachers. The usually consist of varied
and strategically selected work samples from students and are collected in a folder by the teacher.
The use of such a strategy allows teachers to look at student performance in various learning
activities. The use of the portfolio specially allows the teacher to collate the sample work and reflect
upon their success in their programs and teaching styles through their student results in the learning
activities. They can also due to the use of the portfolio, reflect on the data at a time that suits them.
The disadvantage of this method is that it is not formal and therefore students may for whatever
reason not produce their best work.

The use of a unit program portfolio, allows teachers to collect their various unit plans and compare
results through reflection appendices. By collating every unit plan they have produced, the teacher
can look at what was effective last time and incorporate that as well as looking at what didn’t work,
so that they can create a more effective teaching program. Thus encouraging a continuous and
effective self reflection procedure.

Conclusion
In conclusion it can evidently be seen that no evaluation method/process is perfect, every
method/process has its strengths and limitations. Therefore Heyman, Pearson & Scott (2009) are
right in saying that effective evaluation of both teachers and their programs, lies within the use of
multiple evaluation strategies. (personal communication April 1, experienced practising teachers).
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Brady, L. & Scully, A. (2005). Engagement inclusive classroom management.

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