SUPERVISION and EVALUATION MODEL

Form of
Evaluation

Description

Strengths/Weaknesses

Research

Traditional

Teacher evaluation had

been an afterthought for
several years. There
was a great deal of
autonomy in what and
how teachers could
teach. In fact, most
teacher evaluations
consisted of a fly-by visit
through the classroom,
casual observations in
the hallways or at
meetings. If a school
leader avoided getting
angry phone calls from
parents about a teacher,
that was almost enough
to quantify their success.
In fact, the old adage,
no news is good news
was often true. There
had been a lack of
accountability for
schools to evaluate
teachers, data was hard
to collect, and state
testing was seen as a
nuisance rather than a
tool to reveal student
growth.

The strengths of this

system, if it could even
be called that, are few.
There was no
accountability or
transparency for
teachers or schools. A
school leader was less of
an instructional leader
and more of an
operations manager.
There was little
collaboration amongst
colleagues and the use
of data was non existent
for student instruction, let
alone, teacher
evaluation.
In short, this was a
gravely flawed system
that required significant
improvement.

Fixing Teacher
Evaluation

As a result of years of a
flimsy evaluation
process, teacher
evaluation in Ohio went
through an significant
review. The result was 1.
OTES, a term that is

Educators have met

OTES with mixed
reviews. On a positive
side, OTES does the
following:
Uses a holistic model to
evaluate

Ohio Teacher
Evaluation System:
An Introduction an
Overview
https://education.ohi
o.gov/getattachmen
t/Topics/Teaching/E

Current

http://www.ascd.org/
publications/educati
onalleadership/oct08/vol
66/num02/FixingTeacherEvaluation.aspx

both loved and hated by2.

educators.
3.
The current model uses4.
a holistic combination of
teacher observations 5.
and student test scores
to rate a teacher on a
continuum of mastery 6.
from Skilled to
Ineffective.
OTES takes into
consideration
Instructional Strategies 1.
including differentiation,
use of assessment data
to inform instructional 2.
decisions, the teachers
knowledge of students
needs, classroom
3.
environment, and
student growth.

Increases transparency
Creates accountability
Encourages culturally
responsive instruction
Incorporate the use of
assessments to make
data-informed decisions
Provides a forum for selfreflection and growth
On the negative side,
OTES is unpopular for
the following reasons:
It is a cumbersome rubric
that is difficult to score
SKILLED in every area
It is very time consuming
for both teachers and
administrators
It requires test scores to
be factored in regardless
of where prior student
levels had been
4. There are two different
kinds of tests used that
create unfair advantages:
SLOs (which are teacher
created) and state tests
(which are created by
testing companies)
5. There is a variation on
results based on the
school leader who is
doing the evaluation.

Transformative

When researching
transformative
evaluation practices, I
kept coming back to
business models.
Although education is
NOT a business and
students are NOT a
product, there are some1.
transformative practices
that education could
employ. Additionally, I 2.
utilized some techniques
3.
for online employee
because even though
teachers traditionally

This is an extreme model

and would likely raise
some serious issues with
teacher unions; however,
I think there are some
benefits to revising the
evaluation model and
they include:
Differentiated evaluations
for various subjects and
grade levels
Frequent feedback
Attention to soft skills like
willingness to change
and responsiveness to
feedback

ducator-EvaluationSystem/Ohio-sTeacher-EvaluationSystem/TeacherPerformanceRatings/OTESModel122315.pdf.aspx

Evaluating the
Employees You
Cant See
https://hbr.org/2012/
12/evaluating-theemployees-you-c
Big Companies
Find New Ways to
Evaluate
Employees
https://www.marketp
lace.org/2015/10/02
/business/bigcompanies-findnew-ways-evaluate-

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

work in a brick and

4.
mortar setting, what
happens in the
classroom on a daily
basis is largely
unobserved by
evaluators. There are
some key ideas that are
transferrable.
1.
Focus on results AND 2.
behavior
Level the playing field: 3.
Not all subject areas
require the same skills.
Consider a Physics
class vs. a Drama class.
Teachers need different
skill sets to succeed in
different contents. As a
result, consider using
different rubrics.
Frequent, short cycle
evaluations are similar
to the formative
assessments we give
students every day. This
provides quick and
relevant feedback that
can be acted upon
sooner.
Amount of improvement:
Consider teacher
growth. Like students,
not all teachers start at
the same place. As we
evaluate, we need to
consider where there
has been significant
growth.
Student and peer
feedback: this may be a
controversial point, but
consider the recipient of
the teachers
performance . . . the
student. This may be a
valuable avenue to
explore.
Responsiveness to
Feedback: Similar to

Consideration of student
and community opinion
(although this has some
potential dangers as
well)
Some negative points
about this kind of
evaluation:
Subjective criteria
Reliance upon student
and community feedback
Possibility for unfair
evaluations because
many of the areas are
not easily quantifiable

employees
Ten Easy Ways to
Evaluate an
Employees
Performance
http://articles.bplans
.com/how-toeffectively-evaluatean-employeesperformance/

assessing growth of a
teacher, how willing a
teacher is to reflect on
feedback can be a point
of consideration
7. Willingness to take
ownership: Teachers
need to be willing to own
their professional
responsibility to students
and the community.
Analysis

The traditional model leaves much to be desired and I would not advocate
for going back to such a laissez-faire approach. I think the best method for
teacher evaluation would be a synthesis of the current model with the
transformative models I described. I think the standardization of the rubric
currently used is a reliable way to avoid unfair evaluations and provides a
standardized approach; however, I also think there should be some degree
of differentiation different subject areas as well as an acknowledgment of
teacher growth. Additionally, I would like to see some degree of student
feedback incorporated in the evaluation. I know this is a touchy subject and
potentially very controversial, but it is important to me as a school leader to
take into consideration the student with whom the teacher spends much of
his/her time. Finally, I think the current model of OTES with the postconference conversation is a valuable tool for reflection and growth, and
that should be a standard part of every educators evaluation.