7/30/2019 Approaches to Evaluating Teachers
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Approaches to Evaluating
Important Definitions and SpecificationsEvaluating teachers can
be approached from three different but relatedangles: measurement
of inputs, processes, and outputs. Inputs are what ateacher brings
to his or her position, generally measured as teacherbackground,
beliefs, expectations, experience, pedagogical and
contentknowledge, certification and licensure, and educational
attainment. Thesemeasures are sometimes discussed in the literature
as teacher quality;for instance, the NCLB requirement for highly
qualified teachers refersspecifically to teacher qualifications and
credentials. Processes, on theother hand, refers to the interaction
that occurs in a classroom betweenteachers and students. It also
may include a teachers professionalactivities within the larger
school and community, but for the purposes of
this research synthesis, classroom processes are the focus.
Outputsrepresent the results of classroom processes, such as impact
on studentachievement, graduation rates, student behavior,
engagement, attitudes,and social-emotional well-being. Other
outcomes may involvecontributions to the school or community in the
form of taking on schoolleadership roles, educating other teachers,
or strengthening relationshipswith parents, but again for the
purposes of this research synthesis,student outcomes are the
focus.Outputs can be referred to as teacher effectiveness, although
asdiscussed in the following section, teacher effectiveness as used
in theresearch literature is often limited to mean impact on
student
achievement specifically.Defining Teacher
EffectivenessClarifying the way teacher effectiveness is defined is
important for twomain reasons. First, what is measured is a
reflection of what is valued, andas a corollary, what is measured
is valued.Definitions nominate and shape what needs to be measured.
If, forexample, policy conversations revolve around scores from
standardizedtests, the significant outcomes can be narrowed to
those that can bemeasured with standardized test scores. On the
other hand, when policyconversations concern the interactions
between teachers and students,
the focus shifts to classrooms and documenting effective
interactionsamong teachers and their students. In addition,
different definitions leadto different policy solutions. When the
conversation focuses on teacherquality, the discussion likely turns
to improving teachers scores onmeasures of knowledge or on signals
of that knowledge, such ascertification. When classroom processes
are discussed, particularpractices or approaches to teaching become
the focus.Given the importance of these distinctions, this research
synthesis usesthe term teacher effectiveness but does so with a
much broader definitionthan is typically associated with that term
in current policy conversations.In the remainder of this section, a
more nuanced definition ofteacher
effectiveness is provided; this definition includes the varied
roles teachersplay as well as the varied student outcomes education
stakeholders value.
