How are Teachers Evaluated?

The following is an email I sent to a student who wanted to know what I thought about high school students evaluating teachers.

High school teachers have many stakeholders. From the top down, they include the Federal government (No Child Left Behind Act) which mandates continued test score improvements, the State of California, which tells teachers what to teach, the District, which hires and pays teachers, and the taxpayers (the parents), which support the school district. Those actually being taught, the high school students, have no voice in the process other than choosing which classes to take. Even then there are many mandatory classes, and students can perhaps select a certain teacher, but they cannot avoid the class. Why is that? The State has determined that students must learn certain things, and that the State (thinks it) knows better than the student what those things should be. If the parents disagree, they can homeschool or send their child to a private school, but the students still need to learn certain subjects, like it or not. Since that is the case--students learn information that they may not be interested in (Shakespear, geometry, Reconstruction)--it does not make sense for students to be involved in the teacher assessment process. Should slaves assess their masters? Note, however, that students already evaluate their teachers informally on the internet. Comments I have read on RateMyTeacher.com do not give me confidence that high school students can assess teachers properly (even though I do well there, personally). Additionally, all teachers get a reputation and are sought after or avoided based on these rumors, fair or not. 

 

Teachers are evaluated by principals using fair but strict standards based on equity, preparation, engagement, safety, etc. Most students don't pay much attention to these things but they are the essence of good teaching!

 

I would be more comfortable including student ratings in teacher assessments if they were in elective, not mandatory classes, and answered (on a Likert scale) items such as "does this teacher teach to standards" and "did this class prepare me for a career or college?"

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your query.

A Study on the Value of Teacher Feedback

Teachers spend copious amounts of time commenting on students’ social studies papers. Teachers may comment on the students’ understanding or misunderstanding of the unit content, completeness and balance of analysis, and investigation and comparison of sources. Additionally, teachers typically comment on the logic and structure of the paper, grammar, spelling, proper academic language, and other literacy aspects of academic writing.

If the teacher comments are interpreted as constructive criticism, the student is engaged in a joint productive activity. “Learning occurs most effectively when experts and novices work together for a common product or goal, and are therefore motivated to assist one another”(Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence, Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy, 2002, www.crede.ucsc.edu/tools/research/standards/standards.html). This is well and good, but do high school students interpret teacher comments on papers as constructive criticism? More basically, do the students even read the comments, and if so, do they use those teacher comments as a guideline for the next paper? That was the question I asked 22 High School history students. I was unable to find previous studies that answered my questions. However, I speculate that the research has been done and is in some education or psychology journal. Perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a research idea for someone’s masters thesis.

I gave a tenth grade World History class the following instructions. (The number of students that answered is in parentheses.)

Please put your head down, and don’t be influenced by your neighbor. I want your honest analysis—not what you think I want to hear. You may pick from four possible answers: never, seldom, usually, or always. Raise your hand for the best answer for two questions:
A. When a teacher corrects a paper I wrote, I read the comments… never (1), seldom (2), usually (7), or always (10).
B. When I write the next paper for that same teacher, I use the comments on the first paper as a guideline... never (4), seldom (4), usually (10), or always (2).

The total number of students in the class was 22. Two students refused to participate.

The total sample size was too small to extrapolate to a more general population of high school students. If the same trend was found on a larger sample size, such as fifty or more students, and one drew from a statistically normal population, disturbing conclusions could be reached. Despite lessons from a skillful and accomplished educator, large numbers of students do not engage in a joint productive activity with their teacher. If 40% of students don’t use teacher comments constructively, the assessment process is no longer a feedback loop. Instead, assessment is only a means for the teacher to determine a grade.

Fortunately, schools can fix this problem before high school. Grammar schools can and should teach students how to use teacher feedback.