Educational Leadership - November 2012

Conventional teacher
feedback and evaluation is

based on a flawed assumption: that accurate measurement of teaching is the central goal of teacher evaluation. I call this the scoreboard model— the belief that if we grade our teachers in a truly comprehensive way, we’ll drive student learning. Get the score right, and positive results will follow.

Leaders like Serena begin from a very different assumption, which I call the coaching model. For Serena, the core driver of teacher development is not accurate

scoring, but skillful coaching, working with instructors on specific concrete actions that will improve results.

Serena’s in good company.

sharpening our ability to evaluate teachers has gathered steam lately. In

If the goal of

The best basketball coaches don’t spend
the bulk of their effort parsing the
part, this stems from the work of tal-
ented education experts, who’ve pro-

evaluation is to grow

most accurate way to record a “steal”—
they spend it training players how to
posed what a comprehensive rubric of
improve their footwork so they can great teachers to drive

teaching practice should include. Robert Marzano and his colleagues focus on

student excellence,

avoid an opposing player stealing the ball in the first place. The best directors

41 key strategies (Marzano, Frontier, & Livingston, 2011). Charlotte Danielson

the traditional

don’t spend the majority of their time
debating how Academy Awards votes
(2002) has suggested a framework
for good teaching that encompasses a
whopping 76 criteria. These rubrics and

model has failed.

should be allocated. They spend it
developing actors to produce award-
winning acting. These talent builders
guides mark important steps in deter-
may find scoreboard questions inter-
mining what makes teachers effective in
Moreover, it’s likely that any criteria-
esting, but they realize that with limited
the classroom.

based observation of Michelle would
time and energy, concrete improvement
But is this approach to teacher obser-
occur toward the end of the school year. takes priority over developing a theo-
vation effective? Will a new teacher
With summer approaching, she’d have
retically complete framework of effective
develop more powerfully because of
normed evaluation criteria? It seems
little chance to put any changes into
place until the next school year. And
performance.

Let’s examine three ways leaders like
unlikely. No doubt a comprehensive
she might not know whether she was on Serena practice this coaching model.

rubric would give Michelle an interesting snapshot of her class and her teaching. But with 30, 40, or even 70

the right track until months later, when Serena completed the rubric again. If the goal of evaluation is to grow great

Conduct More Frequent
Observations

areas to consider, how would she know teachers to drive student excellence, the Serena’s evaluation of Michelle wasn’t where to focus her efforts to improve?