Yesterday a post of mine on the need to rethink how we use teacher evaluations was published on a website titled The Educators Room. I’ve been struggling lately with the concept of teacher evaluations; not the method that we use to evaluate teachers, but the way that this data is used. Too often evaluation systems are created under the premises of rooting out “bad” teachers (bad being subjective) while doing little to help all teachers improve.

I think that this idea is predicated on the notion that teaching is viewed as a talent that people have or don’t have, rather than a skill that is acquired over time. Liz Green of Chalkbeat does a beautiful job of outlining this idea in her new book “Building a Better Teacher” (which every teacher and policy maker should read!) and my piece is very much a product of the line of thinking she outlines.

Here’s a excerpt from the piece:

I do sincerely believe that we need to reform the way we evaluate teachers in America. We need a system that includes multiple measures of accountability including student performance (though what that looks like should be open to debate), classroom observations and measures of content knowledge. But the idea that great teaching can be taught carries with it profound implications for the way that we use evaluations in America. We need to stop targeting our systems towards removing bad teachers and start talking about growing all teachers. This is going to require a mindset shift on the part of policy makers and the public, but it’s a mindset shift that could transform teaching and student learning in our country.

Read the original post here.