practice. In the absence of more accurate the key concepts. Student work shows
engaging all students in learning,
data, evaluators tend to rely on their
an in-depth understanding of key con-
helping students develop a deep under-
impressions or their personal opinions
cepts. The arguments, questions posed,
standing of content, effectively com-
of teachers. Consequently, teachers con- and methods used go well beyond the
municating with students, caring for
sider the evaluations neither valid nor
grasp of the key concepts typically
individual students, and helping all
reliable.
found at this level of experience”). Most students succeed in school. This helped
In Search of a Better System
The interim report on the two-year
important, this question invited peer
reviewers and the teacher to focus on
student learning.
clarify what was expected of teachers
and what to assess in teacher evaluation.
As a result of these efforts, evaluators
implementation of the new teacher
In the post-observation meeting,
were able to give more constructive
evaluation system has reignited a heated peer reviewers and the teacher dis-
feedback, which teachers found useful.
debate. But even as discussions continue cussed the key concepts in the observed Teachers reported that their school-
about how to improve the process,
lesson, whether students learned those
based teacher evaluation system was
schools in South Korea are demon-
concepts, and which evidence illustrated highly effective at promoting their pro-
strating new approaches to imple-
menting the teacher evaluation system
fessional development (Ministry of Edu-
cation, Science, and Technology, 2012).
and are obtaining better results. Their
efforts suggest several ways to improve
the national system.
Hangang Middle School:
A Focus on Teacher Autonomy
In the first year of implementing the
Why not put
more effort into
supporting teachers’
collaborative efforts
Namsan High School:
A Focus on Collective Responsibility
While experts grapple with value-added
teacher evaluation models, which seek
to identify the specific contribution an
individual teacher has made to a stu-
new teacher evaluation system, teachers
at Hangang Middle School in Seoul used
to improve each
dent’s achievement, a different approach
is capturing widespread attention. It
the standardized evaluation questions
and rubrics and found they weren’t
student’s achievement?
posits that improving student learning is
a collaborative endeavor, that all parties
useful in identifying teachers’ strengths
involved—teachers, parents, and the
and weaknesses or improving their
students themselves—are responsible
practices. The second year, the teachers that learning. Given this information,
for student learning.
decided to develop a school-level
the peer reviewers were able to discuss
In Namsan High School in
teacher evaluation system and use it in
with the teacher how he or she might
Gyeonggido, Korea, teachers have
combination with the national system to improve the lesson.
developed a school-level peer review
overcome the latter’s weaknesses.
In particular, the teachers emphasized system that encourages collaboration
The teachers kept the framework of
building a shared understanding of the
among teachers. Teachers in the same
the national system—including peer
standards of performance and clarifying department form teams of four or five.
review, student and parent surveys,
what good teaching looks like. For
Because most students will take the
evaluation questions, and scoring
example, a team of teachers conducted
college entrance exam in the 12th grade,
rubrics—but developed three open-
student, parent, and teacher surveys
teachers focus on promoting students’
ended questions for peer review as well
at the beginning of the school year to
academic achievement. The teacher
as two additional questions using a five-
understand these major stakeholders’
teams collaboratively diagnose indi-
point scale.
thoughts on good teaching. Survey
vidual students’ learning needs and then
One question was this: Was the
results were interesting: Teachers tended plan lessons together.
observed lesson effective in helping stu-
dents learn key concepts in the subject
matter? Performance indicators ranged
from 1 (“The observed lesson was very
ineffective in helping students learn the
key concepts. Student work shows no
apparent understanding of the key con-
cepts”) to 5 (“The observed lesson was
very effective in helping students learn
to value subject-matter knowledge, stu-
dents tended to value student-teacher
communication, and parents tended
to value a teacher’s care for individual
students.
The teachers discussed the survey
results with both students and parents
and came to a consensus. All parties
agreed that good teaching involved
Once a month, a team member con-
ducts an open lesson as other team
members observe. After the obser-
vation, the team holds post-observation
meetings and evaluates the lesson.
The evaluation focuses on identifying
the strengths and weaknesses in the
teacher’s practice and clarifying what the
teacher might do to improve.
