Top reasons to evaluate teachers

Beth Scholz at the Harvard Macy Institute reports that teachers often question the effectiveness of their teaching methods. Evaluations build confidence by helping educators understand how their work affects student achievement.

In-depth evaluations make it easier to identify a teacher’s strengths and areas of improvement, enabling school administrators to make better decisions. For example, if a principal recognizes a teacher’s strength in hands-on science demonstrations, they can assign that teacher to lab-based courses instead of lecture-based ones.

Conducting regular evaluations also helps administrators identify teachers who aren’t meeting your district’s employment standards. You can address the issue by putting them on a performance improvement plan or taking other corrective actions.

Teacher evaluation methods

As of November 2022, only 10 states have uniform teacher evaluation systems. In 27 states, districts develop their own systems based on state criteria. As a result, schools use multiple methods to assess teacher effectiveness. Consider using these methods when conducting teacher evaluations.

Classroom observations

During a classroom observation, an evaluator watches as a teacher implements their lesson plan. This helps determine if the teacher employs approved teaching strategies and maintains control of the classroom. The teacher also has the opportunity to demonstrate effective communication while interacting with students.

To make observations more useful, you may choose to stay for the entire lesson. It’s also helpful to have a debriefing session afterward. During the debriefing, talk with the teacher about what you observed and ask questions to gain a better understanding of their approach.

Data analysis

Many schools use data analysis to determine if their teachers are performing as expected. For example, you may want to set learning objectives at the beginning of the year and then collect data related to those objectives. You can use the data to determine if a teacher’s students met their annual goals.

Student surveys

Depending on regulations in your area, you may be able to administer student surveys. Surveys give students an opportunity to provide feedback about their teachers. Consider asking these questions to determine how well your teachers are doing in the classroom:

• How would you improve this class?
• How many hours do you spend on homework for this class every evening?
• What have you accomplished in class this year?
• If you could change one thing about this class, what would it be?
• On a scale of one to five, how would you rate your teacher?

Peer evaluations

Peer evaluation involves having one teacher evaluate another. The evaluator should teach the same subject as the teacher being evaluated. Otherwise, the evaluator may lack the content knowledge to assess the other teacher effectively. For example, it would be difficult for a math teacher to assess an art teacher’s ability to teach students how to sculpt with clay.

Peer evaluations help teachers improve their skills. Both parties benefit from these evaluations, as they can have productive conversations about teaching methods and classroom management strategies.

Self-evaluation

Self-evaluation gives educators the opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices and identify potential areas for improvement. If you want to incorporate self-evaluation into your school’s performance-management system, have teachers set goals at the beginning of each year. 

As the year progresses, teachers should review their goals and determine if they’re on track to meet them. Once the year ends, have each teacher write a self-reflection statement. The statement should include the teacher’s strengths and weaknesses, along with an explanation of how they plan to improve during the next school year.

6 Steps for a successful teacher evaluation

To perform a successful teacher evaluation, consider following these steps:

1. Establish goals

Set goals for the evaluation that benefit everyone and look at more than just teacher practice. Ask yourself what stakeholders hope to achieve from the evaluation process. Does your school board need to improve employee retention or increase standardized testing scores? There are big-picture goals that take some of the pressure off of the teacher.

2. Define evaluation standards

To evaluate a teacher fairly, compare their performance against the standards set by your district or state education agency. These standards may include:

• Student development: As part of your evaluation, assess student development, which is the progress a student makes due to their participation in the lesson.
• Learning environment: If you conduct a classroom observation, look for signs that the teacher maintains a positive learning environment. For example, the teacher should make expectations clear at the beginning of the lesson.
• Content knowledge: A teacher should have in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in each lesson.
• Planning for instruction: Effective teachers plan their lessons carefully. If you have the opportunity to observe one of your teachers, ask to see their lesson plan or unit plan.
• Teaching strategies: Teachers use a variety of strategies to help students learn. Look for examples of blended learning, direct instruction, cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning and other strategies.
• Leadership and collaboration: In the education field, effective collaboration is a must. If you require teachers to collaborate with colleagues and administrators, you may want to include collaboration in your evaluation rubric.

3. Select an evaluation method

Once you know what you’re looking for and what outcomes you want to achieve, you must decide how you’re going to get that information. The most effective way to evaluate teachers is to use several methods to obtain a wider breadth of objective data.

Depending on your goals with the teacher evaluation, consider using the following to evaluate teacher performance:

• Classroom observation
• Principal observation
• Student surveys
• Standardized testing data
• Instruction artifacts

Looking at these areas gives you various perspectives on where teachers are excelling and what challenges they may be facing.. Classroom observation is usually done by a third-party, impartial administrator or school board representative. If the evaluator has significant concerns, they may recommend that the school principal conduct a follow-up observation.

Student surveys provide a learner’s perspective on how well the lessons’ content is being received in the classroom. Standardized testing can also show how well students understand various aspects of the curriculum.

Another useful evaluation method is examining instructional materials, such as teacher lesson plans. This aspect of the assessment helps demonstrate how well teachers are preparing for classes.

4. Select and train evaluators

To get an accurate and unbiased assessment of a teacher’s performance, you need an evaluator with the knowledge and skills to review them fairly.

Consider who is eligible to perform the evaluations. Determine if teachers can evaluate each other and if special training is required for the evaluator. Inform evaluators about the standards you’ve selected for your evaluation process.

5. Conduct teacher evaluations

With trained evaluators in place, you can start using multiple evaluation methods. If your main source of evaluation data is in-class observation, be sure to schedule each session well in advance. Prepare to distribute survey papers to students in class or set up an online survey that the entire student body can take to assess each teacher.

6. Review the results of each evaluation

Regardless of what your goals are (improving teacher performance, reducing turnover rates or improving student testing scores), you need an action plan outlining what to do with the evaluation results once you have them available. Before you review evaluation data, make sure you know the answers to these questions:

• What rating does a teacher need to receive before they require a performance improvement plan (PIP)?
• What rating would make a teacher eligible for a promotion?
• How will you implement strategies to improve performance for teachers who fall below the satisfactory level?
• What indicators suggest a teacher could be moved to a different role, such as a principal?

After you answer these questions, you need to ensure you have the necessary HR and development resources to make these changes happen. Depending on how many teachers undergo evaluations within the same timeframe, there could be significant action taking place within your school board following the evaluations.

How to improve the teacher evaluation process

Teacher evaluation should be a dynamic process that changes as your school’s needs change. To improve the process for everyone, consider these tips:

Provide adequate support

The people evaluating teachers may not be skilled in coaching or providing critical feedback. Perhaps they simply have knowledge of the profession that qualifies them to identify educators’ strengths and weaknesses. To effectively communicate their findings in a way that is helpful to teachers, evaluators may need additional coaching or training.

Using multiple evaluation methods can also make educators more receptive to feedback. If they receive ideas from their own students via surveys rather than through in-class observations by third-party evaluators, they may be more likely to make adjustments accordingly.

Deliver constructive feedback

A successful evaluation focuses on constructive feedback rather than criticism. If there are issues to address in the classroom, it’s essential to share them with teachers in an actionable way. When you deliver constructive criticism, emphasize what the teacher is doing well before discussing any areas for improvement.

When addressing the need for improvement, be clear about your expectations. Let the teacher know what steps they can take to implement positive changes. 

Seek input from multiple people

A broad perspective is helpful when evaluating teacher performance. Rather than relying on the opinion of a single administrator to provide feedback, expand the number of people responsible for evaluating teachers to get a more well-rounded opinion of their work.

A well-rounded evaluation program may involve asking other teachers to provide peer evaluations or holding workshops to review constructive feedback in a group setting.