Evaluation of the Teacher Effectiveness: Lessons From Around the World
Abstract
This session will present teacher evaluation practices and approaches to measure teacher effectiveness around the world. Leading international scholars in teacher evaluation will offer perspectives on the definition, trends in theory, and applications of measuring teacher effectiveness.
Session Summary
One of the overarching challenges in developing a fair and balanced educational accountability system in any country is designing a teacher effectiveness program. The vital question asks how to recruit, identify and develop effective teachers. For example, possible criteria include: student performance, curriculum, instruction and assessment, compensation, classroom size, professional development resources, school autonomy, and school leadership.
One of the overarching challenges in developing a fair and balanced educational accountability system in any country is designing a teacher effectiveness program. The vital question asks how to recruit, identify and develop effective teachers. For example, possible criteria include: student performance, curriculum, instruction and assessment, compensation, classroom size, professional development resources, school autonomy, and school leadership.
It is well known that evaluative practices vary across the globe. Approaches to measuring teacher effectiveness should be well understood and discussed before implementing evaluative procedures since the chosen system can significantly impact student learning. Therefore, via this session researchers and policy makers worldwide can learn through an internationally comparative lens.
The purpose of this symposium is to provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about teacher evaluation practices and teacher effectiveness around the world. Leading international scholars in teacher evaluation will offer perspectives on the definition, trends in theory, and applications of measuring teacher effectiveness.
Understanding different approaches for evaluating teacher effectiveness is more important than ever before. On February 17, 2009, President Obama allocated $4.35 billion of the funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for the Race to the Top Fund. This competitive grant program rewards states for improving student achievement. One of the most critical components of the Race to the Top Fund is measuring teacher effectiveness.
Presenters:
1) USA
Robert Lissitz, Ph. D.
Universityof Maryland
Dr. Lissitz will represent the USA perspective by presenting a paper on a wide range of topics related to value added models (VAM) such as the definition of VAMs, Race to the Top versus NCLB, Growth modeling and VAM, teacher effectiveness and challenges. He will discuss a comparative study he is currently conducting using different growth models. Dr. Lissitz will summarize a review of the literature on measuring teacher effectiveness; and will synthesize his talks around the theme of what can the world learn from USA’s experience in measuring teacher effectiveness.
2) FINLAND
Pasi Sahlberg, Ph. D.
Director General
CIMO (Centre for InternationalMobility and Cooperation)
Dr. Sahlberg will represent the Finland’s perspective. Unlike the models of measuring teacher effectiveness (such as VAM) used in USA which are based on hard data (such as test scores), Finland is using an approach that contains attributes like personal commitment, level of collegiality, engagement in pedagogical development and teacher leadership. His paper will explain in detail how Finland is coping with the issue of teacher performance and evaluation. Dr Sahlberg will focus his paper around the theme of Finland’s experience in measuring teacher effectiveness.
3) SINGAPORE
Tan Oon Seng, Ph. D.
Dean of TeacherEducation at the National Institute of Education
Teacher development in Singapore is unique from the continuum approach from initial teacher education to life-long professional development where goal congruence and pragmatic policies and practices amongst university, schools and the Ministry of Education help steer the teaching profession towards high standards and commitment. Teaching is a calling and effective teachers have a unity of purpose in their personal aspirations, beliefs, interests and competencies with a view of impacting the next generation and a system of evaluation and accountability builds on (a) Learner-centred values, (b) Teacher identity values (c) The values of service to the profession and community. Professor Oon-Seng Tan, will address the key factors to a successful teacher education policy in Singapore, including teacher evaluation in light of empowering teachers and enhancing teacher professionalism. He will also address the challenges of diverse societal expectations, the impact of rapid educational transformations and balancing accountability measures and autonomous professional trust.
Discussant:
Linda Darling-Hammond, Ph. D.
Stanford University
Charles Ducommon Professor of Education
Co-Director School Redesign Network (SRN)
Dr. Darling-Hammond’s research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher quality, and educational equity. Among Dr. Darling-Hammond’s more than 300 publications are Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and be Able to Do (with John Bransford, for the National Academy of Education, winner of the Pomeroy Award from AACTE), Teaching as the Learning Profession: A Handbook of Policy and Practice (Jossey-Bass: 1999) (co-edited with Gary Sykes), which received the National Staff Development Council’s Outstanding Book Award for 2000; and The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Schools that Work, recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Book Award for 1998.
