While it is increasingly difficult to find consensus about most education issues, two related ideas have earned nearly universal acceptance. First, good teaching matters. Effective teachers make a significant difference in students' learning and their lives. Second, teacher evaluation methods are inadequate. They fail to differentiate good teaching from bad.
In response, policymakers from across the country have been rushing to reinvent teacher evaluation. The reform of choice typically includes using student test scores along with classroom observations and other evidence to measure teaching. These efforts, while perhaps well-intended, are likely to fail.
First, they ignore the capacity of the education system to implement these new approaches. The new evaluation systems typically charge the principal with conducting multiple classroom observations. Most principals have neither the time nor the expertise to do this well.
Second, these systems rely fairly heavily on student test scores. While there's a lot of debate about the wisdom of using test scores for teacher evaluation, what's not in question is that as many as two-thirds of teachers are in untested grades and subjects -- no test scores for them.
Third, new evaluation systems are based on the notion that evaluation is mostly about identifying failure rather than helping teachers succeed. New evaluation systems lack the structures, not to mention the resources, to make poor teaching good and good teaching great.
Our recently completed study of Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) programs in two California school districts points to a better way to build a teacher evaluation system. These districts, Poway in San Diego County and San Juan near Sacramento, have created PAR programs unlike any others in the state. They use experienced teachers, called consulting teachers, to provide a year of intensive support to beginning teachers and underperforming veterans and, in most cases, conduct their summative evaluations. PAR is overseen by a joint labor-management governing board whose members are selected by the district and the local union. The board reviews evidence presented by consulting teachers and makes recommendations to the superintendent about the employment status of the teachers in PAR. Many teachers make it out of PAR; some don't.
We found that the common assumption that a single person cannot provide support and conduct an exacting review of practice is wrong. Integrating support and evaluation works. In Poway and San Juan, consulting teachers diagnose each participating teacher's strengths and weaknesses, examine practice against district standards, and develop a targeted yearlong program of improvement for the participating teacher. Along the way, consulting teachers are careful to document their efforts. Their files on individual participating teachers average 190 pages in length and include multiple summary reports and detailed notes of every classroom observation and conference. They annually complete as many as 30 informal and five formal observations of each participating teacher.
We also examined the principals' evaluation files for many of the participating teachers. The differences were striking.
Principals' evaluations were much sketchier. Their ratings were based on fewer observations and their analysis of teachers' practice tended to be narrow. Documentation and evidence were sparse. Their files averaged seven pages in length.
Both Poway and San Juan are working to expand their PAR programs to all teachers. California districts that are serious about teacher evaluation should consider following suit. Peer review in Poway and San Juan offers comprehensive teacher support and rigorous performance evaluation, and reflects what good evaluation should be: a balanced approach to support and accountability.
Daniel C. Humphrey is the associate director of the Center for Education Policy at SRI International in Menlo Park. Julia E. Koppich is president of J. Koppich & Associates, a San Francisco-based education consulting firm. They wrote this for this newspaper.