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Evaluating Teachers

Evaluating teachers is one of a principal's most important -- and time-consuming -- tasks. But taking the time and doing it right is the key to helping your staff and school achieve its potential. The articles below from Education World's archive share practical tips to help you plan, carry out, and get the most out of the evaluation process.

Pete Hall: Confronting Concerns With Teacher Performance
The time is now to confront the malpractice being committed by teachers who don't pull their weight. If there are children in that teacher's classroom, we have an obligation to provide the best possible learning environment and to insist upon excellence from that teacher.

Read More... Find more articles of interest in the following Education World resources: Hiring New Teachers Staff Development Classroom Management 101 See our complete archive of Focus On… articles. More than three dozen hot topics of interest to principals.

Pete Hall: Turning Teacher Evaluations on Their Ears
The scheduling, the classroom observations, the reports, the checklists… Teacher evaluation time is an exhausting time. Just ask our ulcers. But when you keep SITTM in mind, and pair it with frequent classroom walk-throughs, students end up the big winners.

Excellent Evaluations: Practical Tips for
Improving Principals' Observation, Teacher Evaluation Skills
Evaluating teachers is a principal's most important responsibility. Education World's "Principal Files" team offers their advice for doing this process better. Included: What to look for, evaluation form options, walk-through tips and forms, tips for teachers, more.

Administrators Praise Three-Minute Walk-Throughs
Since one North Carolina school district started using three-minute walk-throughs, principals have become more involved with curriculum, provided support for educators, and learned from students. Included: How a three-minute walk-through program works.

Pete Hall: Get Out of That Chair!
Principal Pete Hall says walk-throughs are the most powerful thing he does. They provide him with a clear picture of the state of learning in his school and many peripheral benefits too. Walk-throughs, Hall says, should be a priority in every principal's day.

Walk-Throughs Are On the Move
Principals use walk-through observations to engage teachers in conversations about student learning. Included: Principals share the benefits of walk-throughs; how to initiate walk-throughs with teachers who might fear frequent classroom visits by principals.

Making Teacher Evaluations Work
One large district handles teacher evaluation by incorporating it into an in-depth, wide-ranging approach to teacher learning called the Professional Growth System. Education World takes a close look at the system's practical elements and how it works.

Copyright © 2008 Education World

Last updated 06/26/2008