Are Teacher Evaluations Worth It?

I don’t think there’s much in the report to disagree with. They’re reporting the facts and then interpreting what they found. The place that I would disagree is on the causes. I doubt seriously that the design of the evaluations in those districts was the serious problem. I think instead it had to do with flaws in implementation.

One of the problems that I see in the implementation in the Gates Foundation-funded projects is the emphasis that was placed on how data are collected and interpreted, what data were used. And in many of those districts, there was still a very heavy emphasis on classroom observation. Classroom observation is flawed as well. There’s been a great deal of writing and controversy around using value-added measures, but what people sometimes forget is that observation is flawed.

Were principals following the implementation procedures properly? The end result that you can’t argue with is that in the vast majority of cases, teachers are perfect. All teachers receive whatever the highest rating is. If it’s a five point scale, they get a five. If it’s a four point, they get a four.

Ultimately what happens in many schools is the evaluations get reduced to a one- or two-point scale. The districts think they have a four point summative scale, but they don’t. They never use the bottom two points. And consequently, the only distinction is between “effective” and “highly effective.” That’s a flaw in implementation.

Teachers have an enormous impact. We know that, and we know what good teachers do. The fallacy comes in how we assess that effectiveness. My worry is that because of reports like [the one released by] the RAND Corporation, and pushback that is constantly being felt across all the states, this initiative will be completely dropped, and we won’t return to it for another decade or so, and we’ll realize the mistake we’ve made.

There were mistakes made in implementation, mistakes made in rushing to design, but to throw all of that out and to say that, “Well, okay, evaluation is not worth doing. What’s next?” — that’s a huge mistake.

I don’t think that evaluation is the only reform that we need by any means. In fact, I have a bit of skepticism about evaluation being the best place to start. But I do think it’s an important reform, and quitting at this point will waste not hundreds of millions of dollars, it will waste billions of dollars.

And more importantly, it’s going to impact the lives of kids. If we give up on distinguishing between effective, highly effective and less effective teaching, we’re never going to improve in our schools. We’re going to be exactly where we were in the past and we’re going to remain there in the future, if we give up on that effort.

Hire and retain the absolute best principals. There is evidence that suggests it takes four or five years for a principal to begin to have a real footprint in that school, and if it’s an effective principal, that’s going to be a positive footprint.

We’ve known for a long time from research from the Dallas Public Schools that the quickest way to turn around a school, for good or bad, is to change the principal. Quality principals get quality results. And a quality principal will know good teaching. That person will be a medical practitioner, essentially, and be able to diagnose what’s effective and what’s not effective that’s occurring in a classroom, and then be able to prognose and say, “Here’s what you can do to get better and to improve.”

That good principal will follow up, give support, not just say, “You need to get better,” but will say precisely, “Here’s how you can get better, and we’re going to be there to support you in getting better.”

And then finally, he’ll follow up to verify that improvement has occurred. One additional thing we know from research on the best principals is that they will not condone poor teaching. They help teachers find another job if they don’t get better. Principals, while their direct influence on student achievement is in the range of five to ten percent of the total amount, they have a much greater influence. They hire teachers, they support teachers, they develop teachers, they keep teachers. If I could do anything immediately, that would be it.