Teacher Evaluation Overhaul Deserves Support
Last month, Commissioner Mitchell Chester of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education proposed a new set of evaluative regulations for educators.
The commissioner’s proposal outlines a stronger and more thoughtful system of accountability and several key elements have inspired my staunch support and the support of Stand for Children members across the commonwealth.
This proposal presents an unprecedented opportunity to make a far-reaching and positive impact in the lives of our nearly one million students.
The state’s current evaluation framework does virtually nothing to support the cultivation of great teachers and this ineffective system is failing both teachers and students alike.
Right now, revising this crucial tool is the single most impactful way to ensure that every classroom has a great teacher and that every student has access to a clear and viable path toward a successful future.
The Specifics
Chester calls for the use of multiple measures of student learning to represent half of an educator’s evaluation. In a recent poll of 595 randomly selected Massachusetts voters (sampling error of plus or minus 4 percent), participants who expressed an opinion agreed 2 to 1 that evidence of student learning should make up at least half of the proposed evaluation.
To be clear, evidence of student learning would never rely solely on singular data from standardized tests like the MCAS, but would also include additional assessments such as writing portfolios and class projects.
Furthermore, the commissioner’s proposal provides an avenue for peer and mentor teachers to share their expertise among colleagues and utilizes both announced and unannounced classroom visits by evaluators for a more accurate snapshot of an educator’s instructional practice.
These provisions are essential to helping improve student outcomes in the commonwealth. However, Stand for Children members also believe that the final regulations should include a more significant role for unfiltered feedback from parents and students.
In the same poll mentioned above, 75 percent of participants who voiced an opinion agreed that this feedback should be included in an educator’s evaluation. These perspectives would be extremely useful in supplementing evaluations with direct input from individuals who are intimately involved in the day-to-day operation of the classroom.
This spring, Stand for Children members provided testimony at numerous board meetings and delivered more than 650 letters from Massachusetts residents supporting the key improvements outlined above. In addition, we have provided the board with video testimony from 23 educators in Massachusetts who strongly agree that these regulations will be crucial in helping them to be effective leaders in the classroom.
Access to excellent schools and effective teachers should not be a privilege in Massachusetts — it should be a birthright.
Great teaching should be in every classroom in every town and every district, and great teachers should be celebrated and supported with the professionalism their craft deserves. Improving the way we evaluate educators is an intelligent step toward realizing this goal and we simply cannot afford to miss this opportunity.
Great teachers generate brighter futures for Massachusetts students, and our children deserve nothing less.
Jason Williams is executive director of the Massachusetts affiliate of Stand for Children. For more information, visit www.stand.org/ma.
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