The results are in for the 2008-2009 school year new teacher evaluation system, and the responses are mixed.
According to Education Week, strict study of the teacher evaluation results has raised questions as to the real effectiveness of the plan and its effect on the overhaul Chicago schools are attempting to make to bring school systems up to speed statewide.
“Although Chicago is not the only district putting a new teacher-evaluation system in place, it is certainly one of the few that's paying a lot of attention to implementation, studying it, and documenting the results. The system, based on Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, was rolled out in 44 schools in 2008-09 and expanded to 100 in 2009-10. The data here is from the first year of implementation and used "matched" observations to determine whether an administrator and external observer gave the same rating.
According to the data, over a third of teachers received all "proficient" or "distinguished" scores from their principals on the various strands of the observation framework, and about a third received a mix of "basic" and "proficient" scores.”
Questions exist as to how closely the results should be studied and if the results should be applied consistently to assessments for pay, promotion, professional opportunities, tenure-granting, or dismissal.
The concern arises that if this first step towards real reform for Chicago’s schools can’t be breached, how does that leave the subsidiary stages yet to come?
Parents, students and educators – weigh in. What do you think about the new teacher evaluation system in Chicago and how it ties into school reform?
Posted By: Paul Adams
Thursday, June 24th 2010 at 12:17PM
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