Cousins Jeri Lynn DeBose, Tish Hoover, and Josephine ( Joey) Parks looked forward to meeting up…

Cousins Jeri Lynn DeBose, Tish Hoover, and
Josephine ( Joey) Parks looked forward to meeting up during the Christmas
holidays to compare notes on the results of midyear teacher evaluations. All
were public school teachers in districts scattered over the state. In the
pressured search for new levels of teacher accountability demanded by
legislators, the state department of education joined 16 other states in
implementing a new teacher evaluation system. The goal is to hold teachers
accountable for student learning progress in the classroom. Under the guidance
of the National Council for

Cousins Jeri Lynn DeBose, Tish Hoover, and
Josephine ( Joey) Parks looked forward to meeting up during the Christmas
holidays to compare notes on the results of midyear teacher evaluations. All
were public school teachers in districts scattered over the state. In the
pressured search for new levels of teacher accountability demanded by
legislators, the state department of education joined 16 other states in
implementing a new teacher evaluation system. The goal is to hold teachers
accountable for student learning progress in the classroom. Under the guidance
of the National Council for Teacher Quality, criteria varies by state, but in
most cases, 40 percent of each teachers accountability score would be based on
the principals evaluation and ranking based on personal observation, 30
percent would be based on personal observation by a master teacher from outside
the district, and the other 30 percent would be based on student test score
gains. The state department of education would set a performance goal for each
school district, and the principal would set a performance goal for each
teacher. In preparation, the state conducted intensive training sessions for
principals and designated master teachers who would conduct the evaluations
based on four class observations per teacher. Officials used standardized
achievement tests to derive value-added scores that measure student learning
over the year. Teacher ratings were 15, with 1 being the lowest and 5
representing near perfection. The publication of the first years evaluations
stirred interest and controversy, particularly among teachers who worried about
the possible longterm effects on job retention and tenure. Now, with the
first-year evaluations in hand, the three cousins pored over their experiences.
The three represented different types of school systems within the state. Jeri
Lynn worked for a metropolitan system in the state capital. The system included
many low-income students whose first language was not English, and several
schools within the system were teetering on the brink of state takeover if
improvement in student scores didnt materialize this school year. Tish worked
in a county system dominated by upper-income residents, and Joey taught in the
rural community in which all three grewup. The rural community had high unemployment,
and a low percentage of graduates went on to college. As a result, the cousins
came to the table with differing teaching experiences. The numbers are all
over the place, Jeri Lynn remarked as she studied the pages. The whole system
is flawed and they need to make changes, Joey said. Its too subjective. The
principal and master teacher observations are subjective because there are
personal factors that affect a true outcome. Yeah, look at the numbers from
your upper-income district, Jeri Lynn said to Tish. How can 60 percent of the
teachers score 5s? Tish chuckled. Yeah, lucky us. Our schools are overflowing
with children from wealthy families. These are the kids who will apply to Ivy
League schools. I can tell you that the principals are going to avoid
confrontation on all fronts. No principal is going to give any indication that
their students are receiving an education thats less than perfect, and that
means cramming the rankings with 5s. They claim a higher level of motivation for
students, and thus the selection of an elite team of educators. So with those
pressures, I dont think we get personal feedback that is accurate. At the
other end of the spectrum, we have my rural district, Joey said. The big
problem is that the principals know everyone and have longstanding
relationships with everyone in the county, so I think scores are based on
personal history. We could almost predict who would get high or low scores
before the observations. For principals, it can go back as far as his daddy
and my daddy hated each other in high school, and now I get to evaluate his
daughter. I think that in many cases, principals feel pressure to align
scores with state expectations. The state expected my district to have high
scores and expected rural schools such as yours to be lower, Tish said. But
isnt that partially offset by lower goals for the rural school districts?
responded Joey. The key to the accountability system is the principal in each
school, Jeri Lynn suggested. With several of the schools in Metro teetering
on the edge of state takeover by the end of the year, we had lots of strict
principals who wanted to hold our feet to the fire with lower scores. I
thought the whole idea was to provide the teachers with feedback so that we
would know the areas where we need improvement, Tish said. The principals
were supposed to conduct two observations in the fall and two more in the
spring, Jeri Lynn said. I think thats asking too much of them when they
already have so much on their plates. I think a lot of them are skimping on
their visits. I know I only had one observation last semester, and Im sure Mr.
Talley just faked the second set of numbers. The master teachers make only two
observations a year, which may be more objective but counts forless.
Im wondering, too, how a principal measures performance in a course area
outside his area of expertise, such as math, Joey said. If the guy has a
phobia about math, anything the teacher says or does is going to look brilliantthus
a 5. Tish and Jeri Lynn looked at each other and laughed. Maybe we picked the
wrong subjects, Tish said. My question is one of perception, Jeri Lynn said.
Alarge percentage of my students are ELL. That affects their scores. How
do you measure a 3 in my situation against a 5 for Tish? At the end of the
school year, little Carlos is thrilled that his reading in English has
improved, but theres no Big Bang here. Its a slow steady improvement that may
not actually show up in big strides for a couple of years. So the question is
how do they create a system that is fair? Tish asked. And accurate, added
Jeri Lynn.

1. What do you see as the major strengths
and flaws in the feedback control system used in the schools in this scenario?
What changes do you recommend to overcome the flaws? 2. Is a 15 grading system
by principals and master teachers a valuable part of a feedback control system
for teachers? Why? 3. How might the state control the accuracy of principals
who are conducting teacher evaluations? Explain.