When you consider the task that many Virginia administrators will face with the revised evaluation standards, it could make many of them consider other areas of employment…becoming an astronaut comes to mind. Outer space always seems to be a peaceful place. Alas, that is not realistic, but the reality of a new and intensive task for teacher evaluations may be enough to cause some of us to think otherwise.
Virginia is not alone in the development and now implementation of a more intensive teacher evaluation system. Other states have joined or are developing their own plans to improve the rigor needed for effective evaluation of classroom teachers. It is, quite frankly, long over due and if applied consistently and fairly, will create a more professional cadre of teachers and better learning environments in schools across the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania, Texas and Colorado have developed new rating systems that are similar to ours in Virginia. Among the evaluation criteria standards in other states for rating teacher performance could be parent reviews, student surveys and student growth measures including standardized test scores.
It seems, however, that all is not peaceful and levels of cooperation vary in states where new systems of teacher evaluation/accountability have been proposed. In other states, legislatures, judges and teacher unions are rejecting proposed accountability systems and are working to develop alternative evaluation systems.
For more information, please review the article in the Huffington Post:
