Teacher evaluation

From EvaluationWiki

A sub-division of personnel evaluation devoted to the evaluation of either K-12 or postsecondary teachers. The standard practice in the K-12 domain has always consisted of occasional classroom visits by the principal, sometimes pre-announced, sometimes not. This can most charitably be described as one way to identify really bad teaching; it is virtually useless, especially if pre-announced, for identifying weak teachers, or really good ones, since everyone simply spruces up the act when they see the visitor enter, or in advance if they know about the visit in advance. Some excellent models are now available, e.g., based on the students' test performance, and of course they are dependent on how good the tests are, and their administration. But they take more time and training of principals than is usually available, and may run into trouble with the unions. See James Stronge, editor, Evaluating Teaching, 2nd edition, Corwin, 2005.