Taylor Connard

Education 650

Standard Activity 6.29B

Teacher evaluations can be a stressful experience for many educators. The success of

these evaluations can depend on many factors. It is important that administrators take the time to

thoroughly complete these evaluations. Evaluation time can leave a bad taste in an educator’s

mouth. In order to gauge how teachers at Clay County High School feel about educator

evaluations, I held a discussion during our Wednesday work day with a few veteran and new

teachers.

This discussion was held on Wednesday before lunch. I asked two veteran teachers to

attend that have more than 10 years of experience, I also had a teacher with five years of

experience attend, and finally two first year teachers. I wanted to have a wide variety of opinions

about educator evaluations. We discussed how effective evaluations are, what feedback is

necessary for educators during evaluations, and what would make the experience better.

The first area of discussion was the effectiveness of evaluations. The teachers with

experience explained that educator evaluations all depend on the administrator doing the

evaluating. If it is an administrator that does not get appropriate feedback, but only does what is

necessary, the evaluation is almost useless. At Clay County High School, we have three

administrators, but only one of them gives a lot of feedback. The first-year teachers feel that any

evaluating is better than nothing, but would like to meet with the administrator after to discuss

the results.

The next thing we discussed was what feedback is necessary for teachers from these

evaluations. It was agreed that most teachers know their content and feel as though that is not an
area that needs commented on, unless it is severely lacking. What everyone agreed upon that

they need feedback on the most is classroom management. Classroom management for all

teachers is something that can constantly be worked on. Classroom management goes beyond

just making kids sit and listen, but extends to transitions and routines. This feedback is critical

for all teachers to receive.

The last thing we discussed is what would make the experience better. Everyone also

agreed that having the after-conference evaluation is necessary for teachers. We do not often

have these conferences and we can feel the difference when we do. The first-year teachers felt

that they needed more comments in the evaluation that goes deeper into what they are doing well

at or what needs improvement. It is so important that administrators make time for educators.

They need to discuss with them the evaluation and give them advice.