The benefits of adding video to teacher evaluations

A Harvard researcher shares her national perspective on improving professional development

One of the biggest challenges in K-12 education is finding an effective and productive way to evaluate teacher performance. In a world where technology is rapidly reshaping the classroom, it’s natural to look to its potential, especially considering that many schools now have the technology to do classroom observation via video. However, these same schools aren’t yet convinced whether the investment will change status quo evaluations. To find out, in 2012, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard, where I work, piloted the Best Foot Forward Project (BFF), a study that grew out of the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project.

BFF began with pilot programs in large districts in Georgia and North Carolina as well as Relay Graduate School of Education. In an effort to gather data from large and small districts in both urban and rural areas, we then expanded the study to include Los Angeles Unified School District, the state of Delaware, and a number of districts in Colorado.

We randomly selected half the teachers to be in a treatment group that would take videos of themselves in the classroom. These videos were then passed along to their principals for evaluation purposes. We also had remote peers provide our treatment group teachers with formative feedback on their subject matter. The control group did “business as usual” when it came to their evaluations.…Read More

7 steps to more engaging professional development

Professional development doesn’t have to be a drag—here’s how to improve it

professional-developmentMost administrators and teachers share a common view of professional development: It’s not always as productive as they hope or it takes valuable time away from more pressing instructional demands. But seven simple steps can lead to more engaging, collaborative, and effective professional development, no matter the topic.

“We don’t want our teachers to think that any of our staff development is a waste of time,” said Amber Teamann, assistant principal at Watson MST in Garland, Texas, during an edWeb webinar. “It’s just a manner of conveying [professional development] in a way that allows your staff to get on board and have that passion. You want staff development to be something that is impacting student success.”

Teamann outlined a professional development strategy using the acronym LEARNER. Each step, she said, leads to better professional development approaches.…Read More