Evaluation Time

This week, many of the teachers and aides were being evaluated during our Math and Reading MTSS programs. MTSS, for those not familiar with the terminology, stands for Multi-tiered System of Support. We use this system to help give differentiated learning for all of our student levels. Some need more support than others and some need more challenges to meet their educational abilities.

Our program is evaluated once in the Fall and once in the Winter time, with a follow-up after each evaluation. The feedback is then shared with parents during Parent-Teacher conferences and with the teachers involved. We can tweak or enhance each tier based on the results of the evaluation.

We have a director who oversees our MTSS program and she is the one who evaluates each of the teachers and aides. She looks at class sizes, classrooms where the instruction takes place, student/teacher interaction, student behavior, and use of materials for concept teaching. We generally get feedback in the form of an email from our director and its shared between the teams. She invites input and feedback from us as well.

I generally get a little nervous when I'm getting evaluated. I want to do a good job teaching and I hope that the students are learning from me and enjoying class with me. It sometimes gets a little nerve-wracking when a student misbehaves and I have to discipline him/her. I want to know that I disciplined the student in the right manner and don't want it to distract from the lesson I am teaching.

I have never had a "horrible" evaluation, but have always had things that I have heard are strengths and some areas in which I can improve upon. Overall, I think evaluations are good for teachers to have and I like that they are held a couple of times a year. I am glad that my evaluation is not tied to pay scale or that my evaluation is not tied in with student assessments. I could see where some schools may want this as a motivational tool to help retain excellent teachers, add bonus pay, and motivate those who need to improve themselves. I like the overall feedback it gives us as teachers and shows us where we can improve upon our classes to help our students succeed. Parents like the feedback; as well, so that they can see how their child is being taught in school and what concepts are being practiced. They can help their child at home with this type of feedback. It also creates more communication points with the parent(s) and teachers.