Performance Assessment for Teacher Development

Abstract

Interest in assessing teacher performance has heightened in the last decade. More than ever before, parents want assurance that teachers are competent professionals. Just when schools are plagued by spiraling costs, declining enrollments, and dwindling resources, educators are pressed to seek better ways of assuring quality instruction. Effective teacher evaluation is one way to reach that goal. Educators are concerned about teacher evaluation for many specific reasons. However, as Millman (1981) notes, we can distinguish between two major types of teacher evaluation: formative and summative. The goal of formative evaluation is to identify teachers' own strengths and weaknesses and plan appropriate professional development activities. Summative evaluation results, on the other hand, provide a base for administrative decisions involving hiring and firing, promotion and tenure, assignments and salary. Clearly, formative and summative evaluations serve different purposes, but both are important. Summative evaluations are designed to ensure that highly qualified educators enter the profession and continue teaching. Formative evaluations help those already teaching to develop and refine vital skills. Most teacher evaluation conducted today attempts to do both simultaneously. In practice, however, most evaluation practices address summative goals. Formative teacher evaluation-potentially important in instructional improvement and individual development-often assumes a secondary role. Neither summative nor formative teacher evaluations, as currently conducted, serve their respective purposes as well as they might. Neither the environment in which summative evaluation is conducted nor the assessment procedures used for that evaluation are as effective as they could be. Formative evaluation offers a potential seldom realized simply because it demands more time and effort than many evaluators can afford. In both cases, a new course of action is needed if the potential of teacher evaluation is to be realized. The research project described in this report is an attempt to chart part of that course. This investigation addresses problems and solutions associated with formative evaluation. We do not wish to imply that formative evaluation is necessarily more important than summative. Both are potentially valuable. But issues of teacher selection, retention, and promotion are already receiving widespread consideration; we feel teacher improvement needs more effort and attention. If overall school improvement is our primary goal, then teachers' professional growth and development become paramount. This research was conducted under contract #400-83-0005 with the National Institute of Education. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the position of NIE, and no official endorsement should be inferred.