The+Widget+Effect

This is notes from the online article -- [|The Widget Effect]
 * Very, very few teachers are rated unsatisfactory (1 % or less). More than 70% receive highest rating in systems with multiple rating options.
 * Teacher self-ratings even inflate the principal ratings. On a 10 point scale, only 1% rated themselves 1-5. 43% give themselves a rating of 9 or 10. Most teachers are dissatisfied if they do not receive the highest rating.
 * If went through evaluation records in principal or district offices, wouldn't find much differentiation or evaluations of use.
 * Report suggests that evaluations need to be rethought and used for tools in recruitment, hiring/placement, professional development, compensation, granting tenure, retention, layoffs (most do use for remediation and dismissal).
 * Only 10% of evaluations included useful ideas of how to improve. 50% of teachers say they do not have one single conversation in a year with their administrator on how to improve.
 * Most evaluations are based on two or fewer evaluations totally 60 minutes or less.
 * Suggestions on performance evaluation systems:
 * 1) Focus evaluation on how teachers deliver instruction that helps students learn and succeed. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
 * 2) Evaluation systems: clear performance standards, multiple rating options, regular monitoring of administrator judgments, and frequent feedback to teachers.
 * 3) Use to develop professional development that is tightly linked to performance standards and differentiated based on individual teacher needs. So when we have professional development each time -- a goal would be to evaluate how effective the teacher is implementing. A question we should ask before the PD is created -- how can we evaluate or measure how this is being used?
 * 4) Administrators need rigorous training and ongoing support to create good performance evaluations.