Teacher Evaluation

Having taught in various international schools as a music teacher, I have been evaluated for my teaching ability, skills and approach yearly.  Though I have taught  for many years, going to school on the day of knowing someone is coming to "evaluate" and "inspect" me still makes me nervous as it puts pressure on me. Having said that, I want to receive appraisal for the betterment of my teaching.


I have taught both in British and American curriculum schools and would like share the difference between these two teacher evaluation systems.

When I was teaching at a British School in Beijing, it used the OFSTED ( The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills of the UK government) teachers standards  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283566/Teachers_standard_information.pdf for teacher inspection.

Every teacher is being inspected twice yearly; the beginning of the year by the principal, and end of the year by the head of department. They will check the box to inspects if the teacher:
1) Sets high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils
2) Promotes good progress and outcomes by pupils
3) Demonstrates good subject and curriculum knowledge
4) Plans and teaches well structured lessons
5) Adapts teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils
6) Makes accurate and productive use of assessment
7) Manages behavior effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment
8) Fulfills wider professional responsibilities

At the end of the inspection, the teacher is being graded as "Outstanding", "Good", "Satisfactory" or "Inadequate" and a follow-up debrief is carried out between the inspector and the teacher.

In my opinion, this kind of observation is rather dictatorial. In the first place, words such as inspect and inspector don't sound friendly to me. (Literally, these words are printed on the evaluation form.) They sound like someone is walking into my classroom to scrutinize me, and I cannot be myself. Furthermore, I have to conduct all the eight tasks well to be graded as outstanding and good in one 60 minute class; this, to me, is not a fair evaluation. Having only two evaluations with a long gap in between, and by two people giving me different sets of opinions is not helpful for my professional and personal growth as an educator.

At my present school - an American curriculum school- I am more pleased with the way I am evaluated. My supervisor, who is also the Elementary school principal, runs five informal walk- in, unannounced observations with me and calls for me for a debrief after each session. The formal observation is conducted towards the end of the year. I like this approach very much as it is likened to a formative assessment, whereby I get to reflect through the five informal observations and work towards reaching my goals and showcase my growth and strength in the formal and announced observation. As the informal observations are unannounced, I find myself more natural while teaching and am oblivious to the supervisor's walking in to my classroom. I am always truly myself in such situation. The informal observations leading to a formal one display a progression in my professional development. I see that my this year's  performance is better than last year's. In my observation, I am evaluated for:
1)  Appropriate instructional planning
2)  Effective organizational and management of classroom
3)  Proper and sufficient instructional strategies
4)  Fair and consistent teacher/student interaction
5)  Appropriate and effective evaluation of student performance

Just comparing the two sets of criteria between the British and American systems, the adjectives used in the former system put tremendous pressure on me to perform to be an outstanding teacher. Whereas with the latter system, I feel relaxed and know how to find my means to teach appropriately and effectively.

With regards to proposing elements on which I think I should be judged as a teacher... again I don't like the word "judge". Why should I be judged as a teacher ?

Tying in with the imminent clinical practice I will be doing, I would like my mentor to give me honest and genuine as well as constructive feedback on my 1) teaching skills and approach  2) interaction and rapport with the students  3) personality as a teacher. These are the elements that will raise the bar for me to become an effective teacher.

Pre-Assessment for Differentiation

Pre-assessment is also known as diagnostic assessment, whereby students are assessed on what knowledge they have already known to move on to a new topic of learning. Pre-Assessment is important for the teacher to know how many students have already mastered the knowledge needed to move on to the next level of learning; how many need some additional help, and how many more still need a large amount of help. This pre-assessment data is very useful for teachers in planning and differentiating future lessons so that every student could succeed.

To develop a unit on creating music using the 5-tone (pentatonic) scale, I will give a diagnostic assessment to my student using the following 6 items:

Diagnostic assessment

1)   Clap an 8-beat rhythm pattern using quarter note, eighth-note, 16^th-note, and quarter-note rest.

2)   Sing an 8-beat melody pattern using all the notes of the 5-tone scale (la, so, mi).

3)   On the worksheet, organize a 8-beat rhythm pattern using each of the following note values:

       

4)   Use a non-pitch percussion instrument to perform an 8- beat rhythm pattern.

5)   Group in fours, choose a pentatonic song and perform to the class.

6)   Play a 4-beat melody pattern on the xylophone.

Innovative Differentiation Strategies:

The five students who answered most of the pre-assessment items correctly will work as a group. They will immediately work on a project called the Orff ensemble with the following steps.

            Step 1

a)    Two students will work together to create a 16-beat melody on the xylophone.

b)   One student will create an ostinato (a 4-beat melody pattern that repeats until the 16^th beat.

c)    Another student will create a bordun (a 4-beat pattern using only “do” and “so” of the pentatonic scale) on the bass xylophone.

d)   Still another student will create an 8-beat melody pattern on the Glockenspiel

         Upon completion of this step, the teacher will assess the students’ work.

           Step 2

          All the students will write down their parts (first, they write down the   

          rhythm patterns, then they notate the solfege under them) on the work sheet  

          and show to the teacher.

          Step 3

          5 students will play together all their parts, keeping a steady pulse and    

          work on blending their parts into a fine-tuned performance.  The teacher  

          will finally listen to the performance assess if the students have met the 

          standard.

The 12 students who have some knowledge about the topic, but need to develop higher order thinking skills.  ( This group of students will defer to work on the Orff ensemble project but just focus on creating 8 -16 beat melody )

  

Step1

All students will individually create an 8-beat melody. The teacher will assess their work after that.

Step 2

Those who can play fluently will continue with another 8 beats to complete the assignment, and then write down their composed work on the worksheet. For those who need more practice on creating melody, the teacher will demonstrate again and ask the students to try, and then the students will play to their peers while the teacher works with other groups.

 Step 3

Those who are making 16 beat melody can now write down their melodies and then, with teacher help, group themselves to play different parts like the high achievers. If the second group succeeds in playing their 8-beat pattern now, they can proceed to the next 8 beats, and then write down their melodies too.

The 5 students who appear to have limited knowledge about the topic.

Step 1

The teacher will sit in front of these students, practice with them the “I play, you play” approach on the xylophones. She plays four beats, and the students echo. Gradually, the teacher has the students make up their own.

 Step 2

Two students will pair up and play a “call and response”, whereby one student plays a four-beat pattern, the other echoes. The teacher will come round and listen to them and give feedback.

Step 3

The students will learn to continue with creating 8-beat melody pattern after practicing step 1 and 2. Due to their limitations, these students will only create a 8-beat melody for their assignments.

High Stakes Assessments

I teach at the International Christian School in Hong Kong, which places emphasis on high-stakes assessments. Its assessment practices have been adopted with an intentional and clear connection to student learning.  At every level the assessments are chosen to accurately and consistently measure the curricular aims of the school and to make an instructional contribution. 

 The students at ICS currently take : 

1) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).

It is chosen because of its reliability and high quality comparative data which helps ICS make inferences and decisions about its program.   In addition, the MAP test provides formative data that can be used to both inform instruction and monitor progress of individual students and provide feedback.   Students who take this test are from Kinder-9th grade.

2) PSAT, SAT and ACT

ICS students take the SAT and/or ACT exams on a voluntary basis as these are mostly useful for students going to U.S. universities. The Testing Coordinator arranges for the SAT and ACT exams to be offered at ICS on various Saturdays throughout the year. The majority of ICS students do take the SAT and/or ACT.  The ACT has only recently been offered at ICS, but there has been significant student interest.

SAT results show ICS students not only performing well above U.S. norms, but also above International norms. SAT results are used primarily in the university application process. Since the ACT has only recently been offered, the school does not have much data about ICS students’ ACT performance. Students in grades 10 and 11 have been required to take the PSAT as preparation for the SAT exam.

3) Advanced Placement

AP results have been strong year on year, with ICS easily outperforming global averages, and also outperforming Hong Kong averages in nearly all subjects.  Students take this voluntary test to accumulate credits for their university placement. AP teachers also meet individually with the HS principal to review the detailed grades, summary reports, and consider the implications for course planning and student learning.

Students who take this test are currently 10th , 11th, and 12th graders.

In summary, ICS high school prepares and guides the students for the above tests, especially for students seeking AP endorsed performance for university placement  and SAT results for university  acceptance.  Middle and Elementary schools, students take the MAP tests twice yearly to i) generally inform teachers and the school about individual student progress, and ii) specifically inform curriculum and program review committees about relative strengths and weaknesses. Students who did not perform well in the tests have no consequence to bear, but teachers will give extra support to their academic growth.

 ICS teachers, especially high school teachers will teach to the test for the AP courses but are not held accountable for the students' scores. The school does not evaluate the teachers' performance based on the students results.

As a Music teacher, I am not familiar with these standardized high stakes tests, but I interviewed a teacher who teaches high school Physic at an AP school in Shanghai to find out how the tests work in his school; he said the teachers would teach the curriculum for the AP courses, but would not teach to the test as the school stresses more on student learning than test taking.

I also talked to an Elementary classroom teacher at an IB World school in Busan; he told me that  the Elementary students in his school would take both the MAP and ACER tests but would not be affected by the scores. It was interesting to know that the parents didn't even care if their children passed the tests.

In conclusion, different schools hold different perspectives in approaching the high-risk tests.  Generally, Middle and Elementary schools do not regard the MAP test as pressurizing because it has no effect on them. Again, for the high school test, it all depends on individual students how important the tests are to them.