Building Bridges Between Home and School Library : What's New - Newest Additions To Our Handpicked Articles and Teacher Resources

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Teacher Evaluations Methods: Evaluating Teachers As Professionals - by Michael Scriven
This document outlines a practical teacher evaluation system that avoids the fatal invalidities of present methods. The recommended approach treats teachers as responsible professionals undertaking to perform certain duties while retaining considerable autonomy in discharging them. While teachers acknowledge a need for accountability and systematic professional development, they also deserve full protection against the use of an arbitrary, invalid, unjust, or noninformative system. T'I discussion first explains why commonly used approaches are invalid, highlighting teaching as a profession, the limits of negotiation (or political compromise), administrator accountability, the lack of serious administrator evaluation systems, professional development connections, summative evaluation versus development support, and the need for a comprehensive evaluation system. The paper then shows the underlying fallacies of research- and judament-based tests and of management-by-objectives approaches. The duties-based model is presented as a valid alternative that divides teacher merit into four major categories and considers a teacher's worth to the district. new (Views So Far 80 )

Guidelines for Evaluating Teaching - by U. Of Michigan
From the U. of Michigan, a set of guidelines to apply to the task of evaluating teachers. Two notables: Use multiple methods, and individualize evaluation to each teacher. There's lots more good material here. new (Views So Far 66 )

Critique: Statisticians slam popular teacher evaluation method - by VALERIE STRAUSS
You can be certain that members of the American Statistical Association, the largest organization in the United States representing statisticians and related professionals, know a thing or two about data and measurement. That makes the statement that the association just issued very important for school reform. The ASA just slammed the high-stakes "value-added method" (VAM) of evaluating teachers that has been increasingly embraced in states as part of school-reform efforts. VAM purports to be able to take student standardized test scores and measure the "value" a teacher adds to student learning through complicated formulas that can supposedly factor out all of the other influences and emerge with a valid assessment of how effective a particular teacher has been. new (Views So Far 73 )

Value Added (VAM) Evaluating Teacher Evaluation - by Linda Darling-Hammond
Practitioners, researchers, and policy makers agree that most current teacher evaluation systems do little to help teachers improve or to support personnel decision making. There's also a growing consensus that evidence of teacher contributions to student learning should be part of teacher evaluation systems, along with evidence about the quality of teacher practices. "Value-added models" (VAMs), designed to evaluate student test score gains from one year to the next, are often promoted as tools to accomplish this goal. Value-added models enable researchers to use statistical methods to measure changes in student scores over time while considering student characteristics and other factors often found to influence achievement. In large-scale studies, these methods have proved valuable for looking at factors affecting achievement and measuring the effects of programs or interventions new (Views So Far 104 )

How Often Are Teachers Evaluated by State - by ACSD
Short, but contains graphics on how often teachers are evaluated state by state, and whether student achievement is taken into account. new (Views So Far 61 )

Critique: Evaluating teachers based on student performance is 'punitive measure that demoralizes teachers' - by Frank Breslin
Opinion piece from New Jersey on the folly of evaluating teachers based on standardized test scores. new pop (Views So Far 172 )

The Triple Challenge of Evaluating Teachers - by CINDY WEBER
Evaluations must be meaningful, simple, and clearly map out various roles and responsibilities, if it is to work to improve teaching. new (Views So Far 57 )

Teacher Evaluations : Self-Evaluation How to Evaluate Your Own Teaching: Evaluating Your Own Teaching - by Dee Fink
Nice concise summary of how teachers can improve their teaching through the self-evaluation process, and remain in control of the process of generating formative feedback. new (Views So Far 78 )

Checklists: Self-Assessment Checklists And Resources - by Scholastic
Great resource for teachers who want to self assess various aspects of their teaching to improve. Links to checklists on classroom management, parent-teacher relationships, substitute teaching and a lot more in free downloadable PDF files. new (Views So Far 69 )

Using A Teaching Portfolio For Teacher Self-Assessment - by University of Chicago
A Teaching Portfolio is arguably the best way for you to monitor your development as a teacher. As such, the Center for Teaching and Learning encourages all advanced graduate students and teaching faculty to begin developing such a portfolio. The process of collecting all the documents related to a course allows you to reflect on that course in a focused way and to consider how to improve your teaching as it relates to student learning. It also allows you to easily consult those reflections the next time you teach the course, or any related course, and to identify areas in your teaching that need further development. In short, the process of documenting your teaching, and the reflection that follows upon that documentation, provide a very rich opportunity for thinking critically and creatively about the effectiveness of your teaching. new (Views So Far 65 )

An Investigation of the Validity of Using Self-Evaluation Instruments to Identify Instructional Needs - by Lou Carey
The validity of interpreting teachers' perceptions of their performance as an index of their actual performance was examined. Two matching instruments were constructed; each contained 72 items in 6 categories of skills. One assessed teachers' perceptions of their competence on behaviorally stated generic teaching skills, and the other assessed teachers' actual performance on the same skills. The items represented verbal information, concept identification, or problem-solving skills that teachers need to perform the skill objectives; and skills that could realistically be assessed using pencil and paper questions. One hundred seventy-five classroom teachers were paid to participate in the study. Results showed that teachers' perception scores were significantly higher than their actual performance scores in all six content areas. Using teachers' perception scores to predict actual performance scores on teaching skills appeared to be an invalid practice; this finding held true for three different types of questions: recall of verbal information, concept identification, and problem-solving questions. new (Views So Far 81 )

Teacher Evaluations : Self-Evaluation : Forms Forms: Teacher Self Assessment Guide - by New York State Dept. Of Education
From New York State Dept. Of Education comes this 35 page PDF that maps out strategies for teachers to self assess on a number of key issues. Contains forms and rating scales you can use on your own. new (Views So Far 61 )

Form: Teacher Self-Appraisal - by Don Pugh
Another form you may find useful in evaluating your own skills across six critical aspects of teaching. new (Views So Far 51 )

Checklist:Self-evaluation Criteria for Substitute Teachers - by Alberta Teacher's Association
This twenty item teacher self-evaluation checklist is written specifically for those who do substitute teaching. new (Views So Far 60 )

CO-TEACHING: SELF-EVALUATION CHECKLIST - by University of Richmond
This form/checklist is written specifically for those who teach in a collaborative environment: ie. co-teaching. new (Views So Far 56 )

Checklist: Teacher Self-Evaluation Handbook - by Seventh Day Adventist School System
Extensive and detailed form/checklist for teachers to use to self-assess on classroom management, teacher techniques, relationships with peers, and a lot more. Lots of items. new (Views So Far 87 )

temp Introduction To School Self-Evaluation - by Ireland Dept. Of Education
Introduction to the process that schools can use to do their own evaluations as internal tools to improve. new (Views So Far 80 )