Teacher Effectiveness

Dr. Radhika Kapur

Abstract
This research paper highlights the significance of teacher effectiveness. Within an
educational institution, for the development of the learners, the institution and the teachers
themselves, it is essential to acquire effectiveness, it means that teachers have to indoctrinate the
traits of efficacy, efficiency, usefulness, helpfulness, success and prove to be valuable to the
administrators, other teachers, employers, students as well as the parents. In the area of
education, teachers do face adversities and come upon barriers and difficulties during the course
of their performance, but possession of the above stated traits will enable them to be productive
and efficient in their performance and implication. Understanding teacher effectiveness,
characteristics, practices, performance assessments, solutions and hindrances are the areas that
have been featured in this research paper.

Keywords: Teacher Effectiveness, Student, Learning, Strategies, Practices, Solutions,

Performance, Assessments.

Understanding Teacher Effectiveness

Teacher effectiveness is generally referred to in terms of the focus on students, their

performance, teacher behaviors, the classroom procedures and conduct that are implemented in
order to better the outcomes of the students. Teacher effectiveness besides focusing upon the
performance of the students centers on the number of areas; effective teachers have to be clear
about the instructional goals, possess sufficient knowledge about the content of the curriculum
and the strategies for teaching, communicating appropriately with the students of what is
expected of them, following appropriate teaching techniques and material to make learning
useful, should be knowledgeable and aware about the students, adapting instruction to their
requirements, anticipating misapprehensions in their existing knowledge, teaching students meta-
cognitive strategies and providing them with opportunities to master them, addressing higher as
well as lower level cognitive objectives, monitoring the understanding and performance of the
students by providing feedback, integrating their instruction with that in other subject areas, and
accepting responsibility for student’s outcomes (Ko, Summons & Bakkum, 2013).

Teacher effectiveness centers on good teaching, possessing appropriate and sufficient

knowledge of the subject matter, evaluating the students, identifying their appropriate learning
needs and requirements, possessing skills regarding the usage of questions to engage and
challenge the students are also an important aspect of teacher effectiveness, and consolidating
understanding is considered to be the effective use of assessment for learning (Ko, Summons, &
Bakkum, 2013).

Characteristics of Effective Teachers

Effective teachers consist of the following characteristics: (Goe, Bell & Little, 2008).

1. Effective teachers have high expectations from the students and help students learn, as
measured by the value added or other test based growth measures or by alternative
measures.
2. Effective teachers render their wholehearted contribution to positive academic, attitudinal
and social effects for students such as regular attendance, promotion to the next grade,
on-time graduation, self efficacy and cooperative behavior.
3. Effective teacher make diverse use of resources and material to make learning fruitful; to
plan and structure engaging learning opportunities, scrutinize the progress of the students,
modifying instruction as required and evaluate learning making use of multiple sources of
evidence.
4. Effective teachers focus upon not just the learning and development of the students but
also on enhancing the classroom climate and schools that value multiplicity and civic-
mindedness. There should be no discrimination on the basis of class, caste, gender,
religion or ethnicity.
5. Effective teachers possess appropriate communication skills, they collaborate with other
teachers, administrators, parents, and education professionals to ensure student success,
particularly the teachers have to depict their effectiveness if they are dealing with
students with special needs and those at high risk of failure (Goe, Bell & Little, 2008).

Defining, Measuring and Tracking Student Learning

 There has been defining, measuring and tracking the extent of student learning through
the evaluation procedure. Different kinds of evaluation procedures have been adopted such as
grading, survey techniques, tests, assessments etc. The student achievement measurement system
can be improved in two ways. First, there has been investing of resources and working to get
higher-quality assessments and data in the hands of corps members. Second, there have been
analyses of student learning data to produce more calibrated goals that are tied to the
achievement of high-performing teachers in each context. It is believed that this improved
student achievement measurement system will provide a more precise view of teacher
effectiveness, accelerating our work to determine what kind of teacher actions and mindsets most
correlate with students’ success (Teach for America, n.d.).

Investigating Our Teacher’s Practices

Teachers do encounter barriers and obstacles during the course of their teaching. They
have to master the course content thoroughly, enhance their knowledge, skills and abilities to
teach, be productive in their outlook, adopt a constructive approach within the school
environment and some of the students within the class are difficult to handle, therefore, teachers
should know how to deal with intricate situations concerning students and other things. Besides
the teaching techniques and practices, teachers should also grasp the skill of appropriately
guiding the students to move on the right track and to counsel them on the complexities that they
may face. In order to understand what teaching effectiveness is, it is important to investigate and
comprehend the practices that the teachers are following. Training workshops, seminars, online
resources, interactive sessions, communication techniques are some of the ways that are used to
improve teacher’s effectiveness.

Using Student Data and Teacher Data to Explore Best Practices

By bringing together both kinds of data showing student learning and teacher actions,
there have been development of some important questions. What resources are the most effective
that teachers use and not use? What resources did teachers who moved out of the limited-gains
category most rely on? How do the lesson plans of teachers making significant gains differ from
those teachers whose students are making solid gains? What patterns are there in the ways
teachers in these three categories of student achievement describe their relationship with their
students? How do the teachers whose students are making enormous growth make instructional
choices? When we examine these teachers’ application files, what indicators seem to predict this
teacher’s making significant gains with students and what of our selection criteria are not
correlated with measures of student learning? (Teach for America, n.d.).

The data gathered has been analyzed and studied the most effective teachers’ systems for
monitoring, publishing, and celebrating students’ progress. There has been evaluation of
countless year-long and unit plans, lesson plans, and classroom management plans, distilling the
common qualities of those belonging to teachers whose students are most successful. Through
extensive interviews with teachers of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities, it has been
found out that how more and less effective teachers address challenges related to race, class,
language, and power dynamics that arise in our work. Effective means of communication with
the teachers of all backgrounds, classes and subjects has enabled the researchers to find out that
what kind of means have been adopted to make success sustainable (Teach for America, n.d.).

Strategies to Measure Teacher Effectiveness

There have been twelve potential sources of facts to measure the effectiveness of the
teachers within an educational institution. These have been identified as follows: (Berk, 2005).

1. Student Ratings
2. Peer Ratings
3. Self Evaluation
4. Videos
5. Student Interviews
6. Alumni Ratings
7. Employer Ratings
8. Administrator Ratings
9. Teaching Scholarship
10. Teaching Awards
11. Learning Outcome Measures
12. Teaching Portfolios
How Performance Assessments Can Help Teachers Improve their Practice
 Developing teacher effectiveness is as important as measuring it. Many studies have
concluded that teachers’ participation in standards based performance assessments can help
teachers improve their practice. Teachers who have gone through National Board Certification,
for example, note that the process of analyzing their own and their students’ work in light of
professional standards helps them better assess student learning and evaluate the effects of their
own actions. They also have to adopt new practices that are called for in the standards and
assessments, such as engaging students in writing multiple drafts of papers or conducting science
inquiries (Hammond, 2010).
There has been a continuum of teacher performance assessments which have been
classified as follows: (Hammond, 2010).
Assessment for Initial Licensing
1. When making an admission into the profession
2. A common high standard of practice for all passageways which includes the pre
service, internship and alternate routes
3. Evaluation of substance knowledge
4. Substantiation used for program approval and accreditation
Assessment for Professional Licensing
1. Following induction, prior to tenure
2. Methodical collection of facts about teacher practice and student learning
3. Verification also used to inform mentoring and professional development
Assessment for Advanced Certification
1. After tenure or professional license
2. Assessment of achievement as an experienced teacher
3. National Board Certifications or state/local alternative
4. Substantiation used for differentiated compensation and leadership roles
Solutions of the Teachers
There are certain solutions that the teachers need to implement and these have been
identified as follows: (Bryd & Rasberry, 2011).
1. Reorganize the school day to allow ample time for observing colleagues and working
with the students.
2. Develop mutual partnerships among all stakeholders.
 3. Resume professional development alternatives to operate on the ground experts to lead to
the progress and reinforcement of the colleagues.
4. Support testing content with 21st century curriculum.
5. Present technology and support to accomplish 21st century learning goals.
6. Guarantee professional development meets teacher and student needs for civilizing
student learning and attainment.
7. Grant opportunities for practiced teachers to distribute leadership and contribute in
decision-making, administrator training on shared leadership, academic freedom, peer
coaching and hybrid leadership roles.
8. Modify the evaluation instrument so that it addresses precise teaching effectiveness
metrics, includes consequences to address ineffective performance, and rewards and
excellent teachers.
9. Allocate information with principals and teachers before assessments are made to fully
investigate the outcomes and essential supports required for success.

Hindrances to Teacher Effectiveness

There have been certain hindrances to the effectiveness of the teachers and these have
been identified as follows: (Bryd & Rasberry, 2011).
1. Extremely little collaboration - Classroom isolation between teachers and administrators,
lack of suppleness in the schedule, resulting in limited planning and collaboration, not
successfully using the internal resources.
2. Insufficient accountability measures – High stakes testing that does not align with state
curriculum and idealistic single assessments and expectations.
3. Inadequate leadership - Disinclination to convert approach, lack of long-term, consistent
and supportive leadership, especially in high needs schools, few leaders to address all
needs in the school building, little opportunities for teachers to serve as leaders without
leaving the classroom.
4. Evaluation and tenure – Deficiency of consequential effects for teachers who do not
improve, tenure granted to some unproductive teachers who then cover themselves.
 5. Ill planned reform implementation - Band-aid explanations that are abandoned before
their efficiency is evaluated, mandates and challenges without resources and training.
Conclusion
In the field of education, teacher effectiveness is stated to be an imperative area which is
essential to implement. Teachers when they are recruited within an educational institution are
required to possess certain educational qualifications; normally teachers are hired who have
some kind of teaching experience. Besides these traits, teachers are required to possess
appropriate communication skills, behavioral characteristics, and they have to depict their
efficiency in dealing with the students. Teachers should possess sufficient knowledge of the
subject area that they are teaching such as art, music, English or Math and so forth, they should
know how to evaluate the students effectively on the basis of their performance; hence student
evaluation is a relevant aspect that depicts teacher effectiveness.
Teacher effectiveness also scrutinizes into curriculum development and instructional
strategies, the methodology utilized by the teacher in imparting training and instruction to the
students largely represents teacher effectiveness. Teachers should possess adequate skills and
abilities to identify the needs and requirements of the students. There have been strategies to
measure teacher effectiveness such as alumni ratings, student interviews, employer ratings,
teaching scholarships, teaching awards and so forth. Teachers within their profession do face
hardships and encounter hindrances concerning aspects such as tenure, collaboration, inadequate
leadership, insufficient accountability measures and ill planned reform implementation; in spite
of these hindrances teachers should possess effectiveness to such major extent so that they can
face every obstacle and render their best performance towards the development of the students,
institution and the overall community.
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