Grading teachers is no easy assignment

Erin Richards

Norma Mortimer moves about her high school classroom with confidence born of 41 years' experience.

Directions to students are clear; she knows when to push for an answer and when to let a question hang.

The English teacher formerly taught music, composed and arranged marching band music, and performed at the Bristol Renaissance Faire.

"It all adds into what I bring to the classroom," she said.

Once every three years as a tenured teacher, performance evaluations provide her with feedback, something she looks forward to even though she knows she's not slipping.

Still, evaluations never flag what she considers her weakest area - teaching effectively when the class is in small groups. Last year, she never received her post-evaluation conference with the principal.

In the growing national debate on how to raise the quality of public school teaching in America, performance evaluations have become both a lightning rod and a sticking point.

Most evaluation systems in public schools provide little information to properly assess teachers' strengths and weaknesses. And because teachers are rarely dismissed over their performance, formal evaluations seldom carry much weight.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 15, 2010 1:18 AM
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