Boston Globe Op-Ed: Teacher Evaluation Flaws

By Lakisha Eason

A recent op-ed in the Boston Globe, titled “Visit Classrooms Early and Often, and Give New Tools To Principal,” examined the issue of teacher evaluations. The writer, Kim Marshall, believes that pay based on teacher evaluations could potentially be the solution to the nation’s achievement gap. However, Marshall points out that the system is flawed due to a lack of manpower to evaluate teachers, the difficulty in getting an accurate picture of day-to-day class instruction and the reality that teacher evaluations don’t reveal if students are actually learning what they are taught.

Marshall’s solution is that evaluations should be unannounced, teachers should be rated on a rubric scale in addition to their students’ gains on year-round assessments.

Many of the school improvement grants implemented in priority schools this year increase focus on teacher evaluations. What do you think about Marshall’s ideas?