Ask Teachers How To Gauge Effectiveness

Learning Point Associates and Public Agenda, two non-profit research organizations that focus on educational issues, took this question directly to nearly 900 public school teachers across the country in a recent opinion survey underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. (See story on study details, page 8).

So what's the best way to judge a teacher's impact according to teachers themselves? The response of the students is criterion No. 1. Nearly all teachers (92 percent) say that the level of student interest and engagement is an "excellent" or "good" indicator of teacher effectiveness. Seventy-two percent say that how much a teacher's students learn compared with other students is another useful criterion. Feedback from principals and administrators is also a good method, according to 71 percent of teachers.

Standardized testing is probably the most controversial area, but even here, more than half of teachers (56 percent) say that how well students perform on district standardized tests is a good or excellent way to judge effectiveness, although only 12 percent give testing the top "excellent" rating.

Less experienced teachers are especially likely to be concerned about basing judgments about their performance on this criterion. Half of teachers with less than five years of experience say that district standardized tests are a "fair" or "poor" way to judge their effectiveness.

It's hardly news to teachers that government and education policy experts are focusing on teacher evaluation and proposals to tie teacher evaluation to compensation as key ways to improve teaching and student learning. According to the survey, teachers nationwide are receptive to this approach in some respects. Solid majorities strongly or somewhat favor offering bonus or merit pay to teachers who consistently work harder, whose students consistently show academic growth during the year, or who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Teachers also give a thumbs-up to the idea of giving incentive or bonus pay to teachers who work with hard-to-reach students or in tough neighborhoods with low-performing schools. When someone is working hard and doing an excellent job, he or she deserves to be rewarded for it, teachers seem to be saying.

The glitch is that while most teachers support the idea of recognizing and compensating teachers who excel, most don't see this change alone as a breakthrough idea for improving teaching and student learning overall. Asked to consider 12 different approaches for improving teacher effectiveness, only 8 percent of teachers say that “tying teacher rewards to student performance” would be “very effective.” In comparison, 66 percent say that reducing class size would be very effective, and 68 percent say the same for developing alternative programs for students with severe discipline problems.

As most teachers see it, improving conditions inside the classroom and enhancing the profession overall offer more promising avenues for improving teacher performance than a singular focus on measuring teacher effectiveness and tying compensation to it. What is clear from the survey is that teachers are open to many of these ideas and have their own vital and distinctive perspective to bring to the discussion.

Jean Johnson is Executive Vice President of Public Agenda and head of its Education Insights division, which works to enhance public and community engagement in public education.