Amber

**Are there any teacher evaluation models that apply student evaluations of teachers? ** **Author: Amber Sekoll**
 * Research Question:**

Johnson, Ben.. (2011, May. 9 ). In //Should Students Evaluate Their Teachers? //. Retrieved Month. Day, Year, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-evaluation-teachers-ben-johnson
 * Blog Entry**

// Summary: // Students in other countries were asked what they expected of their teachers in the classroom, and what they actually got from their teachers. After comparing the two results, researchers found that there was a significant gap between what students expected from their teachers and what their experiences were in the actual classroom environment. Researchers found that students appreciated teachers who were “inspiring, approachable, have clear expectations of their students, and are willing to help struggling students.” One of the major conclusions drawn from this experiment was that student evaluations seem to be the most effective at providing specific information about teachers. One way that teachers could implement student evaluation into their own classes could be adding nongraded questions at the end of every test such as “Did you enjoy learning about this topic? What could I have done better?, etc.” //Reaction:// I think teachers would be surprised to hear what students actually think of them. Often times, teachers don't get much feedback from their students, so they will continue to teach the same way they have for many years, even though it may not be effective. Teachers could definitely benefit from receiving student feedback, as long as they implement their suggestions in their lesson plans. Also, I don't think many teachers realize the importance of the impressions they make on their students. A lot of teachers think that all they need to do is teach the material and that's it. But developing a relationship with students and appearing approachable in the classroom can really make or break a students success. If a teacher seems more approachable, a student is more likely to ask for help when they don't understand material, so they can do better in the class.

Dillon, S.. (2010, Dec. 10). What Works in the Classroom? Ask the Students. //New York Times //p A15. Retrieved Nov. 18, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/education/11education.html?_r=5&adxnnl=1&ref=education&adxnnlx=1292086864-QhySyGTSuqx2YHm1Wo/zHA&. //Summary://  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on finding new ways to evaluate teachers. One of the studies was to have students in seven major cities evaluate their teachers. Researchers for the project compared the students ratings of their teachers to the teachers average standardized test scores. There was a correlation found between students who gave their teachers good evaluations and high standardized test scores. Because of the results of this study, twenty states have decided to reconstruct their teacher evaluation system, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is suggesting implementing student evaluations as a part of the teacher evaluation process. //Reaction:// In the eyes of some education reformers (ie, Diana Ravitch), The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is seen as the enemy to American education reform, as it chooses to take the path down accountability when it comes to education reform. However, this article is evidence that their work could be used to lead education reform in the right direction. Their studies are showing that student feedback is a good indicator of teacher effectiveness. Implementing student feedback in teacher evaluation is a step in the right direction.
 * Analysis Article **

**Scholarly Journal**

Mielke, P.. (2012, Nov.). Keeping Improvement in Mind. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;">ASCD //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;"> 70(3), p 10-13. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2013, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov12/vol70/num03/Keeping-Improvement-in-Mind.aspx. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Summary:// <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The common ways that administrators evaluate teachers today is highly ineffective, and doesn’t collect enough information to really gauge if a teacher is doing a good job or not. Some things that would help teachers score better on evaluations would be having access to the rubric by which administrators are “grading” them by (helps them improve on weaknesses //before// they are being evaluated), implementing student evaluations, collecting feedback from administrators //after// they’re evaluated, and performing self-evaluations. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Reaction:// It seems that student evaluation isn't the only effective way to evaluate teachers. Reformers should consider other methods that have been proven effective, as well. There is more than one way to evaluate a teacher, not just on test scores. These methods should all be tested and the best one should be implemented into the education reform plan. Just as students improvement isn't evaluated just on test scores, teacher improvement shouldn't be either.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;">Kane, T.. (2012, Jun. 24). Should Student Test Scores Be Used to Evaluate Teachers?. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;">Wall Street Journal //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;"> Retrieved Nov. 19, 2013, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304723304577366023832205042. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Summary://
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Opinion Article **

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thomas Kane, supporter of implementing standardized test scores as a part of teacher evaluation, talks about the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation study on student evaluation as evidence that test scores really are enough to gauge if a teacher is “good” or not. Kane suggests that standardized test scores along with student feedback should be used to evaluate a teacher. Linda Darling-Hammond, an advocate for eliminating standardized test scores as a part of teacher evaluation, says that teachers shouldn’t be evaluated based on test scores //at all// because they don’t take into account other important factors (student health, home environment, family’s economic state, etc.). Teachers should be evaluated based on their classroom practices, student’s work in the classroom, lesson plans. In addition, teachers should be given frequent feedback from their evaluators. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Reaction:// I think Kane has the right idea when it comes to implementing student feedback into teacher evaluation. However, I don't agree with his idea that teachers can be evaluated based on standardized test scores. There's too much evidence out there that student performances on tests is //not// an effective way to gauge if a teacher is doing a good job in the classroom. Factors outside of the classroom have a huge effect on student performance on test scores, even more of an effect than what goes on inside the classroom. Therefore, I agree with Linda Hammond's opinion of teacher evaluation reform

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;">Feldman, K. A. (1976,). Grades and college students evaluations of their courses and teachers. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;">Research in Higher Education //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e1d1d; font-family: proxima_novalight; font-size: 14px;"> 4(1), p 69-111. Retrieved Nov. 19, 2013, from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00991462. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Summary://
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Summary Article **

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Student evaluation //may// not always be reliable; one study found that college students often “grade” their teachers based on the grades they received in the course. There was a correlation found between low grades and bad evaluations when students were asked to evaluate their professors on RateMyProfessor.com. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">//Reaction:// This short article was very interesting and brought up a good point. Some students simply don't like their teachers for no reason, and may give them a bad evaluation because of this bias, even if their teaching methods are effective. This should be considered when thinking about implementing student feedback into teacher evaluation. However, would one bad review of a good teacher //really// have a major impact on the overall evaluation of the teacher?

Overall Reaction to Your Research
Based on the multitude of data compiled from this research, it seems that implementing student evaluation into teacher evaluations would be a beneficial asset to reforming the teacher evaluation process. Without a doubt, the current teacher evaluation criteria is flawed. Evaluating a teacher on the platform of students standardized test scores doesn’t take into account other important factors that effect a student’s performance in school and on tests. Teachers should be evaluated based on how they perform in the classroom- especially how well they work with students, how well students respond to/are engaged in lessons, how they implement innovative lesson plans, and how willing they are to think outside the box and teach students in creative new ways. Part of a teacher’s evaluation should come from the students that they teach. Students are the greatest resources for tapping into how well a teacher is performing on a day-to-day basis, not just on how they perform on evaluation days. Students are perfectly capable of identifying what works and what doesn’t work in the classroom and are the best source of feedback for teachers. All a teacher has to do is put a question or two on an assignment asking things such as “How well do you feel you have learned this material?” or “How do you think you could’ve learned this topic better?”. Teachers can then apply these critiques from their own students in their next lesson plan in order to help students learn material in a more effective way. If student input is considered in the evaluation process, both administrators and teacher will reap the benefits of having a solid idea of how a teacher is //really// performing in the classroom, not just how a teacher is performing based on one day of testing.

Relevance in Rhode Island Schools
It seems that the Rhode Island Strategic Plan is focusing teacher evaluations highly on standardized test scores of those teachers students. Based on the research I've come up with for this project, this method doesn't seem to very effective at all. Firstly, basing a student's academic performance on a test that he or she takes for a few hours on one day is //not// a good indicator of that student's intelligence or learning progress. No where on the test does it say if that particular student was sick that day, or if he or she ate a good breakfast that morning, or if the student was stressed about something going on at home. These factors and more could drastically effect a student's test scores. Furthermore, using these scores to gauge how a teacher is performing in the classroom seems ridiculous. The Rhode Island Strategic Plan needs to rethink the effectiveness of these teacher evaluation methods, and come up with other methods that are more effective, such as implementing student evaluations of teachers.