Using Teacher Evaluation To Change

School Culture
By Marvin Marshall

here is the current selves. In fact, because of this need

approach
approach teacher of for survival, teachers-and especially
evaluation taking us and new teachers who would like assis-

how is it affecting school culture? tance-resist exposing themselves.

The traditional system of teacher They don’t want supervisors to know
evaluation is so ingrained in our their weaknesses.
thinking that few realize our process This is not the road to quality
is on the wrong track. As an assistant work or improved performance. W.
high school principal of both supervi- Edwards Deming, the recognized
sion/control and curriculum/instruc- authority on quality in the work-
tion, high school principal, and dis- place, referred to this syndrome in
trict director of secondary education, his point about the necessity to
I never questioned the efficacy of the &dquo;drive out fear.&dquo; A prime necessity of
procedure. And I never stopped to quality is trust. Yet, the first rule of
&dquo;
reflect on why some teachers failed survival is, &dquo;I don’t want to be hurt.&dquo;
to improve after I had passed on my Although comments by the evaluator
wisdom. You can find the answer to may be viewed as suggestions, the
this simple query by completing the input is received as criticism and sets
following sentence: &dquo;If I have told up the survival instinct, which miti-
&dquo;
you once, I have told you...&dquo; gates against trust.

We tell people what to do in

order to change their behavior. We School Culture
don’t mind controlling people nearly Schools that work to become learn-
so much as we mind being controlled. communities address the issue
ing
Telling a person what to do is con- of culture. The natural outgrowth of
trolling. And that is a prime reason telling teachers what to do results in
why evaluation sessions are so often an &dquo;us vs. them&dquo; syndrome-a com-

perceived as negative experiences. It mon characteristic of school cul-

is a situation where the person feels tures. This adversarial approach of
threatened and, therefore, becomes teachers vs. administrators works
motivated by the need for survival. against building positive and pro-
We are biologically engineered ductive relationships or enhancing
toprotect ourselves-to avoid threat. an organization dedicated to growth

We develop behaviors to defend our- and learning.

Marvin Marshall (marvmarshall@earthlink.net) is the president of Marvin Marshall and

Associates, a Cypress, Calif., training firm.
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117
 Whether we realize it or not, a
significant factor in school improve-
ment is the evaluation strategy. Any
organization demonstrates its philos-
ophy in its evaluation process.
If teachers view evaluation
&dquo;doing to us,&dquo; neither relationships
nor quality will be optimum. If the
relationship is perceived as, &dquo;my
supervisor is helping me-I will not be
harmed-my supervisor is assisting
my growth, &dquo; however, you are on the
track to success.
Evaluations have two main
document poor
poses : to perfor-
and
mance to improve performance.
Regarding the first, in all my 24 years
as a school administrator, I have
never seen a teacher dismissed based
on poor performance. Regarding the
second purpose of improving perfor-
mance, the literature is abundantly
clear: One is hard-pressed to find any
evidence that external evaluation has
any long-term effect on improving
teacher performance.
N ew View
Telling people what to do or how to
improve their teaching comes from
the outside. Growth comes
inside.
The strategy that builds relation-
ships and fosters growth pulls people
together-in contrast to telling, which
pushes people apart. Asking effective
questions is the key to the target.
The first part of the process is for
the supervisor to ask what the
teacher wants or envisions in a qual-
ity teaching and learning situation.
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18
Rather than the supervisor’s framing
the outcome, the teacher describes
how the classroom would be in
terms of teacher instruction and stu-
dent learning.
as The second part of the process is
a natural follow-up to the first. The
supervisor asks how the teacher’s
activities are moving him or her to
where the teacher wants to be. These
two questions (teacher wants and
teacher activities) lead to self-evalua-
tion because a comparison naturally
emanates from the questioning
pur-
process. Self-evaluation is the prime
ingredient for lasting improvement
and the foundation of the Deming
approach to quality.
The third part of the process is
for the teacher to initiate a plan. This
follow-up plan can be teacher-
designed, done in collaboration with
the evaluator, or done in collabora-
tion with others. Evidence is available
that substantiates the effectiveness of
collegial and coaching assistance.
People rarely argue with their
own opinions or plans. By having the
suggestions begin with the teacher,
ownership is ensured. The difficult
step of &dquo;buying in&dquo; is eliminated.
from the
The simple, three-step approach
can be summarized in the three-letter
acronym, WAP: Wants, Activities, and
Plan. What does the teacher want?
What are the teacher and student
activities currently used? Then the
teacher initiates the development of
a plan to bring the activities more in
line with the quality classroom the
teacher envisions by teacher and
learner activities.
Conclusion
Traditional teacher evaluation
approaches are not putting
the track enhanced relationships.
to
Telling people what to do commu-
nicates control and criticism.
Growth comes from setting up an
environment in which people want
to change. For this to occur, the
evaluation procedure must be
viewed as a positive process rather
than as a negative one. The strategy
should lead to intrinsic motivation
resulting in desire, rather than
extrinsic motivation
by compliance.
The process to accomplish a
positive approach to evaluations con-
sists of asking skillful questions about
what the teacher wants and having
the teacher describe current teaching
and learning activities to fulfill these
wants. Self-evaluation is a natural
outgrowth of the process resulting in
the development of a plan initiated
by the teacher.
One of our most vital responsibil-
ities educational leaders is to pro-
as
mote teacher growth and human
learning. The teacher evaluation
approach outlined above carries the
message that the school and district
cares, that there is interest in the
teacher’s enjoyment of teaching, and
that the teacher is a professional.
Using this new approach transforms
the principal’s role from a cop to a
coach and results in building relation-
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ships-the basis of all school interac-
tions ; fostering growth-a prime pur-
us on pose of schools; and instructional
improvement-perhaps the most sig-
nificant of all educational reforms. The
strategy can be a powerful procedure
for breaking ranks with the status quo
by transforming organizational climate
through teacher evaluation. -B
References
Crawford, Donna K.; Bodine, Richard
J.; and Hoglund, Robert G. The
School for Quality Learning.
Champaign, Ill.: Research Press,
1993.
McGregor, Douglas. The Human Side
of Enterprise. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1960.
National Association of Secondary
School Principals. Breaking
Ranks: Changing an American
Institution. Reston, Va.: NASSP,
1996.
Oakley, Ed, and Krug, Doug.
Enlightened Leadership. New
York: Simon &
Schuster, 1993.
Senge, P. M. The Fifth Discipline: The
Art and Practice of the Learning
Organization. New York:
Doubleday, 1990.
Wubbolding, R. E. Employee Moti-
vation. Knoxville, Tenn.: SPC
Press, 1995.
Opinions expressed in the "My Opinion" column
are solely those of the author and should not
be viewed as the official policy of the NASSP.
119