Teacher Evaluations

Teacher evaluations have been established to ensure that students are being taught with quality as well as efficiency. With programs such as No Child Left Behind, evaluations are critical to a teacher. Failure to have evaluations that are satisfactory, may result in the loss of a teachers job. Not all schools are being treated the same when it comes to teacher evaluation. Cracking down on all schools may result in a better quality of education.

Charter schools and public schools have to meet criteria differently. Charter schools, in particular have more flexibility in their teacher-evaluation policies than that of typical public schools. The Center of American Progress released a study that has recently found evidence that affirms that charter schools are being evaluated differently than public schools. "Charter systems create their own teacher evaluation systems and are not usually constrained by school district mandates, union rules, or laws governing tenure and dismissal" (Donaldson, M. and Peske, H., 1)There may be different effects of being evaluated differently.

Researchers Morgaen Donaldson and Heather Peske interviewed the administrators and teachers of five different schools that are located in three different charter-management organizations, also known as CMOs. Two of the nonunionized CMOs' observations were unstructured and unannounced. Their annual dismissal rates were higher than the nation's average, they did not appear to exceed eleven percent of the teaching forces of the schools (Donaldson, M. and Peske, H., 1).

President Barrack Obama's stance on producing better quality education is mostly in teacher evaluation and charter schools. The amount of funding that schools receive will be based on whether or not student test scores are meeting the qualifications that they should. The Obama administration believes that the persistent failure of public schools can be fixed with the advances made in charter schools.

Several criteria have to be met to judge the performance of charter schools. A few of the questions that have to be asked to ensure quality. The first question is, does teacher evaluation in charter schools improve instruction, enhance student learning, and raise achievement? The second question is do charter school evaluation ratings exhibit wider variation than the narrow distribution of high marks commonly found in "conventional" public schools? The last question is, are charter school administrators able to use teacher evaluation as a means to identify and dismiss teachers who are not effective or recognize and reward those who are? Each of these questions are critical in the process of promoting effective evaluations.

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Donaldson, Morgaen L., and Peske, Heather G. "Supporting Effective Teacher Through Teacher Evaluation." 21 Mar. 2010 http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/teacher_evaluation.html>.