Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Classroom observations may hurt teachers more than they help, study says

Classroom observations — one of the most widely-used forms of teacher evaluation — might be setting teachers up to fail

Teachers might be at a disadvantage during classroom observation of their instructional practice, which is one of the most widely-used tools for high-stakes job performance evaluations. And whether or not students have a history of high classroom achievement could be the reason why.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) indicates that evaluations based on observing teachers in the classroom often fail to meaningfully assess teacher performance.

The study, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, adds to the ongoing policy debate over when and how teachers should be evaluated.…Read More

How much should teachers be paid?

"Without our teachers, where would we be?" asked one reader.

With U.S. schools facing enormous pressure to improve, even as state and local budgets continue to evaporate, teacher compensation is the latest flashpoint in debates about education reform.

Though some critics argue that teachers are overpaid (see “Hey teachers: The Heritage Foundation thinks you’re overpaid”), many believe it’s just the opposite (see “Four fallacies of the ‘teachers are overpaid’ argument” and “Teachers facing low salaries opt to moonlight”).

To get our readers’ perspective, we recently asked: “What do you think teachers should be paid?” Here are some of the most thought-provoking responses (edited for brevity).…Read More

States strengthening teacher evaluation standards

In one state, 35% of a teacher's evaluation is based on student growth on the state standardized test over time.

Teachers and principals’ own report cards are getting a lot more attention.

The way educators are evaluated is changing across the country, with a switch from routine “satisfactory” ratings to actual proof that students are learning.

President Barack Obama’s recent use of executive authority to revise the No Child Left Behind education law is one of several factors driving a trend toward using student test scores, classroom observation and potentially even input from students, among other measures, to determine just how effective educators are.…Read More