In a previous article, I discussed the challenges of finding and keeping experienced and skilled teachers. Some states are beginning to track teacher performance by examining student gains.
While tracking the gains of students from one year to the next can help administrators and school leaders see which teachers are possibly more effective, it too has it downfalls.
States should never solely place a teacher’s creditably and worth into student gains on a state test. There are some factors that a teacher just cannot control. Class size and student economics are a couple.
One of the problems is that the whole puzzle is not being looked at. Many only view one piece. Teacher performance, teacher qualification, teaching environments and student performance should all be examined.
Schools and districts need to be working toward keeping teachers and allowing them to become experienced. It is estimated that public schools lose over $7 billion dollars a year due to teacher turnover.
Tom Carroll, president of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, suggest that schools be required to report their teacher turnover rate. This way schools with high-risk teaching environments can be easily identified and addressed.
Good leaders are a must for ensuring skilled teachers. A better evaluation system is also needed. Only about fourteen states require that teachers be evaluated on a yearly basis. In those fourteen states, many of the evaluations are jokes. Bad teachers are receiving good evaluations. In addition, teachers who receive bad evaluations are rarely affected by the negative report.
In other efforts, good teachers need praise. Teachers can very easily become frustrated and disheartened. Good teachers who are given praise by their administrators are more likely to keep up their efforts even through hard situations and circumstances. School leaders should make it a priority to acknowledge those teachers who are doing an outstanding job and going above and beyond. However, more focus is usually given to negative circumstances.