Program
Working in education for over three decades, I have come to the conclusion that every school in the U.S. operates within a socio-political context. Emerging trends in learning goals include diversity, equity, and inclusion while critical race theory is being weaponized, online learning is increasing, as overall teacher morale declines while teacher burnout and shortages are increasing. Most importantly, there is a shift to a more modern teaching pedagogy.
Schools are in the process of either catching up, evolving and integrating some or all of these reforms, or remaining stagnant and resistant to change, holding their students’ hostage to a failing, antiquated educational program. At the core of any school improvement, and to meet the new pedagogical trends mentioned above, there are a few simple but critical reforms that can be taken. These involve making some changes in the area of teacher evaluation, restructuring dialogues within department and grade level meetings, and helping school staff in having better conversations.
Within the overall trends in education, teacher evaluation is also going through a transition. These trends include:
Policy is way ahead of the research in teacher evaluation measures and models.
Though we don’t yet know which model and combination measures will identify effective teachers, many states and districts are compelled to move forward at a rapid pace.
Inclusion of student achievement growth data represents a huge “culture shift” in evaluation.
Communication and teacher/administrator participation and buy-in are crucial to ensure change.
The implementation challenges are enormous.
Few models exist for states and districts to adopt or adapt.
Many districts have limited capacity to implement comprehensive systems, and states have limited resources to help them.
Why Teacher Evaluation Matters
Teacher evaluation matters because it has the potential to lead to increased teacher effectiveness and positively impact student achievement. In terms of teacher evaluation, generally all reforms have failed to lift student achievement. The failure resulted from top-down policy reforms, not meaningfully different than the status quo, highly dependent on a change to the behavior of key actors (namely the principals and teachers responsible for student performance. Moreover, there were unintended consequences of driving down job satisfaction among educators and imposing burdensome demands on administrator’s time. Basically, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
We know that teachers are the greatest resource in every school. Teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement. Effective teaching is the leading indicator for improving student performance. So, the most effective evaluation model will show measurable correlations between the model’s individual strategies and teacher development. This is why a formative evaluation process or Peer Observations is a superior way for teacher to be evaluated.
To address all of these issues and to elevate teaching as a profession, we have created the ‘Teacher Collaboration and Growth Program’ (TC&GP). The main components include:
- Teacher Reflection on content, pedagogy, school contributions, and professional development. Multiple sources of student academic progress are analyzed.
- Student Surveys on teaching and learning.
- Dialogues with Department and Grade Level Teams (using the teacher reflection content).
- Peer Observations as the primary process for teacher evaluation.
The goals of Peer Observations are:
- Improvement of teachers’ personal approaches to curriculum delivery of classroom instruction based on feedback from peer observations.
- Teachers demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning, gain confidence in becoming a successful teacher, increase efficacy by making a difference in the lives of every student, and to engage in teacher practices by using evidence-based instructional strategies.
- Identifying areas in teaching practice with particular merit or in need of development.
- Every teacher values classroom observation as a powerful tool for personalized and authentic professional learning.
- By learning from and with each other, teachers and their colleagues begin to build meaningful communities of collaboration focused on the “real world” of teaching and learning in practice.
To help cultivate trust among the staff, we implement professional development on creating group norms, team building, having Better Conversations (Listening, Questioning, Empathy, Dialogue), and discussions on organizational change and how to manage the culture shift.
If you are a Teacher-Powered School or on your way to becoming one, here are reasons why you should seriously consider implementing this program:
- It’s a granted autonomy (depending on collective bargaining contract). Autonomy is independence. Independence is power. Power is freedom. Freedom is transformative and humanizing.
- As a profession, teachers should be consulting with one another like other professions (doctors, lawyers, etc.). Think of the respect we can gain from that.
- Having your own Teacher Evaluation program reflects an open mind, an open heart, and an openness to change.
- Takes the responsibility out of the hands of administration and places it with the faculty school wide. Reflects a more horizontal governance structure.
- It separates us from traditional, non-autonomous schools in the most fundamental area of our work. Makes us appear innovative and light years ahead of most schools nationwide.
Testimonials
L. Willard — Assistant Principal
“My high school, HArts Academy of Los Angeles, participates in a Teacher Collaboration & Growth Program every year! Our program is teacher-driven and autonomous. The main goal behind our review and support program is to provide helpful and constructive feedback to teachers in order for them to grow in their profession in a meaningful way. ”
M. Denman — Social Studies Teacher
“The Teacher Collaboration and Growth program has the power to be a transformative program at any school where it is faithfully implemented. Too often, teaching is an isolated experience. We close our classroom doors, and for the next few hours we are on our own. If lucky, a teacher like myself will have an administrator or department member visit once or twice in the school year. The Teacher Collaboration and Growth Program helps break down that isolation. There is a chance to have meaningful conversations about what we do and what we want to do better. As a process, it stands head and shoulders above the typical teacher evaluation.”
Staff member —
“The (Teacher Growth and Collaboration) process promotes non-judgemental support.”
School Empowerment Group 