Survey Tool: Teachers' Perceptions of the Feedback They Receive

The Examining Evaluator Feedback Survey is a tool for administrators to gather information on teachers' perceptions of the feedback they receive, and on teachers' self-reported responses to that feedback.  This report, published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Marzano Research, contains the survey questions, and information about how the survey was developed, and how it can be used.

How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate Proficiency-Based High School Transcripts

How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate

Proficiency-Based High School Transcripts

"Admissions leaders overwhelmingly agree, students from proficiency-based systems will experience no disadvantage."  Read this April 2016 policy brief from the New England Board of Higher Education.

Charlotte Danielson on the Best Way to Improve Teaching

Communities of Practice

            In this Educational Leadership article, evaluation expert Charlotte Danielson says the time-consuming, top-down, bureaucratic nature of teacher evaluation in many schools is “undermining the very professionalism that’s essential to creating positive learning environments for students.” Of course evaluating teachers is essential to quality assurance, she says, but if only about six percent of teachers aren’t meeting basic standards, what about the other 94 percent? To answer this question, we need to acknowledge three basic realities in schools:

-   Teaching is complex work. “The impossibility of reaching perfection is in the very nature of creative, professional work,” she says.

-   Current evaluation systems are underperforming. “In many schools and districts,” says Danielson, “teacher evaluation has become simply a matter of numbers, ratings, and rankings… I receive frequent e-mails from teachers expressing their dismay over what they perceive as a serious distortion of their mission to engage students in meaningful learning.”

-   Even if they’re conducted well, evaluations “are not the best approach to stimulate teachers’ learning about their complex and important work,” she says. In other words, evaluations might be able to describe a teacher’s work, but they seldom improve it.

The bottom line: “Schools should not rely on evaluation as their main engine of teaching improvement,” says Danielson. “[I]t’s time to shift from an emphasis on high-stakes accountability for individual teachers to an emphasis on schoolwide communities of professional inquiry in which educators learn from one another.”

One of principals’ key jobs is orchestrating this process. And indeed, a symphony orchestra is a good metaphor, says Danielson: conductors lead individual players toward the goal of making beautiful music, and principals lead teachers toward the effective education of all children. Some essentials for good orchestrating in schools:

            • Create an environment that’s safe and challenging. Teachers must be able to express themselves and take risks, constantly seeking new and better approaches. Danielson suggests encouraging teacher teams to identify and share “high-quality mistakes” – approaches that didn’t work out but from which valuable lessons emerged. Principals might do the same.

            • Establish the expectation of collegial learning. “We know that teachers learn more from their colleagues than from their supervisors,” says Danielson. This may be an issue of principals’ limited subject-area expertise, but teachers also worry that admitting uncertainty or lack of mastery might end up as a negative evaluation. Principals need to affirm the key role of learning from colleagues and model openness about their own imperfections and struggles.

            • Flip the classroom observation process. Principals should encourage teachers to visit a specific number of colleagues’ classrooms, not to give feedback, but to learn. The principal might offer to cover teachers’ classes during these visits.

            • Schedule and guide team meetings. Common planning time for key groups, clear expectations for what teams should accomplish, and skilled facilitation can produce remarkable results, says Danielson.

            • Support teacher leadership. Many colleagues are ready to take on the role of mentor, instructional coach, department chair, or team leader. It’s the principal’s job to spot talent, delegate responsibility, and provide training and support. Some key skills: active listening, summarizing a discussion, acknowledging and building on others’ ideas, problem-solving, and problem identification. Principals also need to know when outside expertise is required.

 Originally titled: “Creating Communities of Practice” by Charlotte Danielson in Educational Leadership, May 2016 (Vol. 73, #8, p. 18-23)

(The article summary above comes from Issue #635 of The Marshall Memo, an EXCELLENT resource for educators.)

What's the Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team

Check out What's the Story?, a dynamic learning experience for Vermont secondary students sponsored by the Middlebury College Breadloaf School of English.  What's the Story? provides Vermont secondary students with the tools, resources and expertise they need to pursue their questions, collaborate with peers and create compelling multi-media narratives that provoke positive change in their communities.

• The website includes links to the What's the Story? Facebook page and YouTube channel where you can see student products from this amazing program.

• Students describing their experience in What's the Story?

• Course Description and Calendar of Key Dates

What's the Story? has begun accepting applications for next year's cohort, through a rolling admissions process.  Here is the application to join the 2016-2017 cohort for this learning experience.

TED: Zombie Roaches and Other Parasite Tales

In this fascinating, hilarious, and ever-so-slightly creepy 2014 TED talk, science writer Ed Yong tells the story of his favorite parasites - animals and organisms that live on the bodies (and brains!!) of other organisms, causing them to do their bidding.  Do humans have them too?  Maybe...

TED: The Astonishing World of the Deep Ocean

In this 2008 TED talk, ocean explorer Robert Ballard takes us on a mind bending trip to hidden worlds under water, where he and other researchers are finding unexpected life, resources, and even new mountains. (Chemosynthesis?!!)  He makes a case for serious exploration and mapping.

VT Board of Education Resolution on Equitable, Efficient & Effective Educational Reform in Vermont

Sent on behalf of the Vermont State Board of Education -

March 22, 2016

Dear Legislators:

Attached please find a resolution unanimously adopted by the state board of education at its regular meeting of March 15, 2016. We are aware of and appreciate the state's efforts to limit new programs. We are also aware of your efforts to improve existing laws to manage our limited resources as wisely and economically as possible.

Two recent policy issues stand out as needing prioritized attention, the first is that the pre-school law is a voucher subsidy for the middle class and the affluent. This will only exacerbate our achievement gap and equity problems. It could prove to be the basis for legal action against the state. The second is that the dual enrollment bill is also a subsidy for the wealthy. While a goal may have been to encourage higher education for the less affluent, in practice, it is proving to be the opposite.

We think that these issues are paramount and need to be addressed quickly. Otherwise, a new constituency will form with the purpose of protecting what will rapidly be seen as an entitlement.

If you would like members of the state board to discuss these issues with you, we would be glad to do so.

Sincerely,

William J. Mathis, Ph.D.

Chair, Legislative Committee

Vermont State Board of Education

wmathis@sover.net

(802) 383-0058