January 09, 2012
Are local teachers up to snuff? And perhaps more importantly, are the methods
being used to evaluate teacher performance nuanced enough to help teachers improve? A new report from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundations suggests the teacher evaluation system needs an overhaul.
Superintendent Rich McBride of the North Central Educational Services District agrees that our local schools could
do a better job of improving teacher performance. But it is an issue of resources and priorities.
/> McBride spoke with KOHO’s Isaac Kaplan-Woolner by phone.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation researchers say good teacher evaluations require multiple nuanced observations
by trained evaluators. Those results should be combined with other measures, such as student test scores and
classroom surveys, to gather enough information to both evaluate teachers and help them improve.